


First Bite

by IceQueenofMitera



Series: Beacon Hills Chronicles [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-09-17 03:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9301748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceQueenofMitera/pseuds/IceQueenofMitera
Summary: Trish Roberts knows a secret about Beacon Hills. She knows that it's full of werewolves. But she hasn't had any contact with anything supernatural for six years, not since the fire. Until the Alpha appears. Trish is determined to protect her younger sister, Anna, from the dangerous world her childhood friend, Derek Hale, has just pulled her back into.But will her own secrets push her beloved sister away or pull her into the crossfire and the world she's trying to protect her from?Season One of Teen WolfI do not own Teen Wolf. Unfortunately.Anna and Trish are co-owned with my sister.





	1. Intro

I’ll remember the day most of the Hales died for as long as I live. I’ll remember how distraught my best friend and her younger brother were. I’ll remember the look of numb shock on Derek’s face. The look of pure distress on Laura’s. The burns that covered Peter’s right side. Peter had been the only one that had been inside the house that survived. I’ll never forget how that event changed Derek forever. Changed Laura. Changed Peter. And changed me. Why did it change me? I guess I forgot to mention something important. Most of the Hales are… were… werewolves. Yep, you heard me right. I didn’t stutter. I said werewolves. I’ve known Laura and Beacon Hills’ secret since we were thirteen. Her mom wasn’t very happy that I had found out, quite by accident may I add. Because Laura’s cousin, Josh, couldn’t control his shift very well when he was close to a girl he liked. At least when he kissed said girl. He went all glowy eyed and fangy in front of me. Sassy Uncle Peter thought it was hilarious that I barely reacted. But that’s a story for another day.

Laura and Derek moved to the other side of the country after the fire and I’d gone to nursing school. I visit Peter every week. It makes Jennifer, the nurse that tends to Peter, happy to see someone visit him. I love the man like he’s my own uncle. I didn’t actually have an uncle. Mom had a sister that died over seven, eight years ago, but no uncle. I just don’t understand why Peter hasn’t healed. I’ve wondered for years if he’s not allowing himself to heal, if the PTSD isn’t allowing him to. He hasn’t moved for nearly six years. There really hasn’t been many major animal attacks since the fire. Probably because there hasn’t been any wolf packs coming to see Talia.

But I have a bad feeling that the supernatural may be infiltrating my life again. My little sister, Anna, just moved in with me after our mother’s death. Dad abandoned the family when she was a baby, so Mom made me her guardian in case anything happened to her. Unfortunately, something did. It had almost been as if she’d predicted it herself. Which I actually wouldn’t doubt considering the connections to the supernatural the Roberts family seems to have. It’s the night before school starts and, for some reason, I’m standing outside on my porch watching the rain. Anna’s upstairs in her room, fast asleep. Maybe I came out here so I could think straight. Maybe I can keep Anna from finding out about the true side of Beacon Hills. Out of nowhere, I heard what sounded like a wolf’s howl. Maybe not. Or at least it’ll be harder to. Did I mention I have a very bad feeling?


	2. Normalcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish struggles to remain normal despite the secrets she keeps and tries to protect her younger sister from them

I kept thinking about the wolf howl I’d heard the night before as I drove Anna to school. California hadn’t had wolves in about 60 years. But California did have werewolves. I wondered if a new pack had decided that Laura and Derek, or any Hale relative for that matter, wasn’t going to return to Beacon Hills and decided to move in. That was the last thing I needed. The last thing anyone needed. But it wouldn’t have surprised me. Especially since I’d heard through the grapevine at work yesterday that the Argents were back in town. I’d overheard a pair of nurses talking about one’s new neighbors and the name Argent was dropped. I could only assume that she was now neighbors to the family that, allegedly, set fire to the Hale House. I was pretty sure that the Argents didn’t know I knew about them.

“You okay, Trish?” Anna asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because you just passed the school.”

“Ah, crap,” Anna started giggling as I turned the car around. “Shut up.” Which only caused Anna to laugh harder. I pulled in as a silver Porsche cut me off. I slammed on the breaks and honked.

“Butthead!” Anna called. What I muttered under my breath wasn’t so nice. I pulled up in front of the school.

“Have a good day, Anna,” Anna leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek.

“I hope I will.” I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I’ll see you after school.”

“Bye!” Anna waved and I saw Scott McCall and his friend, I think he went by Stiles, were in front of the school talking. A red head walked by them and Stiles turned and looked at her. Anna walked past the two a moment later and the two boys walked into the school.

 

“Hey, Trish,” Melissa McCall, Scott’s mom, greeted at the nurses’ station, where I was standing. I gave her a smile. She was probably the closest friend I had since Laura. Her son was Anna’s age. Scott was a good kid. His dad had walked out when he was about eightish. He had a severe case of asthma and almost everything seemed to set him off. I had to make him use his inhaler once, poor kid was about to turn blue but didn’t want to use the inhaler because he knew how much it cost. And he was the most protective teenager I’d ever met. He looked out for his mom and I liked that about him. Oh, did I mention that I work at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital? No? Well, there you go. I just mentioned it. Seeing Peter covered in burns seemed to have made me want to go into the medical field instead of becoming a teacher like I originally planned.

“Hey, Melissa,” I greeted. A couple nurses nearby were talking about a body that had been found in the woods. Well, half a body. Which threw up a red flag for me. Body cut in half smelled like Hunter to me. And the only Hunters around here were the Argents. I wondered what the poor werewolf had done to deserve that. “Hey, do you two have anything better to talk about than some poor girl who was murdered?” The two nurses at least had the grace to look ashamed. I picked up a chart. “I’m going to do my rounds.”

 

I helped Anna do her hair for the party. She’d made friends at school, which made me happy; Anna was very shy. I knew Lydia Martin and her mother, Natalie, well. But I was very wary about her hanging out with an Argent. Anna chatted about her new friends. She gushed about how cute Stiles and how nice Scott was. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Do you want to go with me tomorrow to visit Uncle Peter?” I asked when she finally quieted. I still referred to Peter Hale as Uncle Peter. Like I said, I loved him like he was my own uncle. I thought back on the times I spent with the Hale family. Talia being the ear to listen when I was angry at my father for abandoning the family. Peter cracking some crazy joke to make me laugh when I was in a bad mood. The girl talk with Laura. Derek being an annoying ass. Cora being a pain in the ass. The Hales were like a second family. Even if that family could literally tear me to pieces. I always made sure never to be around the house during the full moon. I still kept up with when the full moon was. Habit, I guess.

“We have an Uncle Peter?” Anna asked.

“He’s Laura’s uncle. I visit him a couple times a week.”

“Yeah,” Anna said with a smile. “Where does he live?”

“Beacons Crossing.” Anna turned and looked at me, a shocked look on her face. She knew it was the long term care facility on Beacon Hills Memorial. But I really didn’t want her to think about catatonic and scarred Uncle Peter. “We better get you to that party, huh?”

 

I pulled up to the Martin house and saw that pretty much the entire high school population was there.

“Hey, I know there’s always alcohol at Lydia Martin parties, so please don’t partake.”

“I’m not old enough.”

“Yeah, but that won’t stop your classmates. I don’t want to pick you up and smell beer on you.” Anna made a face.

“Eww.” I chuckled. What was I worried about? Oh, right, she was friends with Stiles. That should worry me more than her drinking beer.

“Go have fun. Call me when you’re ready for me to pick you up.”

“Bye, Trish,” Anna hopped out of the car and crossed the street, passing between the silver Porsche I was sure cut me off a few days earlier and a black Camaro. I glanced up at the house and could have sworn I saw something dart across the roof. I really hoped I was seeing things. Yeah. I was seeing things. I’ve been working too hard. I’m going with that. I really, really hoped that was not a wolf I saw. So I’m going with seeing things. Don’t judge me. I’ve been supernatural free for six years. Sorta.

 

Anna tagged along as I made my way to Peter’s room. A red haired nurse that I knew very well came out of Peter’s room.

“Hi, Trish,” she said, very chippily.

“Hi, Jennifer. How’s Peter today?”

“Same as always,” Jennifer’s eyes went to Anna. “This must be Anna.”

“Anna, this is Jennifer. She takes care of Uncle Peter.” Anna smiled at her.

“Hi.”

“You two look so much alike.” Then Jennifer lowered her voice. “Did you warn her?” I had completely forgotten to warn Anna about Peter’s scars.

“Oh, crap.” Peter may have been a werewolf but when the Hale house caught fire, he was one of eleven people that had been trapped inside. He was lucky to have survived and escaped by the skin of his teeth. In fact, he was the only one. He had 4th degree burns to the right side of his face. Six years later, the scars were still there. It actually made me wonder if the fire burned out what made him a werewolf. Or if the trauma of watching his family die had caused survivor’s guilt. As we were already at the door, it was too late for me to warn her now. We entered the room. Jennifer had turned his wheelchair so he could face the window, the burned side was facing away from us.

“Anna, this is Peter. This is Laura’s uncle. Peter, this is my little sister, Anna.” Even though I knew he wouldn’t respond, I talked to him like he would. Anna walked around to see his face and I held my breath.

“Wow,” she said. “He has beautiful eyes.” She then looked at me. “What happened to him?” she asked, almost as if it were an afterthought.

“Remember the fire I told you about?”

“Yes.”

“Peter barely escaped from it. He was in a coma but when he came out of it, he was catatonic,” Anna nodded looking back at him.

“Hi, Peter.” I had been relieved that Anna hadn’t recoiled from Peter’s appearance. It was almost as if she hadn’t seen the scars at all. I’m proud of her.

 

I was trying to quickly finish my rounds so I could go and pick up Anna from school. I didn’t want her to have to wait for too long. As I put the chart back into its bin on the wall, Melissa called to me.

“Trish! You have a phone call.” Now who would be calling me? I never get calls at work. I took the phone from Melissa.

“Hello?”

_Hey, it’s Anna._

“Is everything okay?”

 _You weren’t answering your phone. Sorry for calling you at work._ I pulled out my cell phone and saw that it was on silent. Now how did it get on silent?

“Sorry, the ringer got bumped to off. I’ll be on my way in a few minutes.”

_That’s why I’m calling. Allison and Lydia invited me to go and study at Allison’s._

“At Allison’s?”

 _Yeah. That’s okay right?_ I thought about saying no, but I couldn’t think of an excuse why. They hunted werewolves, not werewolf friends. Right?

“Sure. Do you need any money?”

_No, I have some. Thanks, Trish. I’ll call you later. Love you._

“Love you too.” We hung up. Why was I worried? The Argents weren’t in the habit of interrogating people that knew nothing of werewolves. What were they going to do? Straight up and ask Anna “Hey, have you seen any werewolves lately? Know anyone who has?” Anna didn’t even know that my second family were werewolves. Hell, she thought werewolves were only in books, movies and TV shows. In Anna’s world, there’s no such thing as werewolves. Can I live in that world again? No? Crap.


	3. Scott's Big Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old friend returns to Beacon Hills and Trish finds herself pulled back into the world of the supernatural during Scott's first lacrosse game

“Oh my God! That’s awesome!” I exclaimed. Melissa and I were both working the late shift and she told me about Scott finally being able to play a game of lacrosse. As first line. For those of you clueless as to what that means, it means Scott is a starting player. I was genuinely excited. It was all Scott talked about doing. The boy loved lacrosse. His lungs? Not so much.

“Coach is actually letting him play first line?” Coach as in Coach Bobby Finstock, champion lacrosse, track and every other sport at Beacon Hills High School coach. Everyone normally just referred to him as Coach. I actually think the world champion ding bat enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure Coach was insane, but he was goofy as hell. I used to go to the games just to watch his sideline antics. Now I’d be going to the games to watch Scott. And pray he didn’t have an asthma attack on the field.

“His first game is on Saturday,” Melissa beamed. She was so proud of him.

“You know I’ll be there,” I said with a smile.

“Great! Gotta run. See you Saturday.” Melissa left and I turned around to see Stiles. What in holy hell was he doing here? I started to walk towards him when he started talking to a red head, no strawberry blond; Anna had been sure to correct me on that, who was sitting in the waiting room. Going by Anna’s description of her friends, this had to be Lydia. Stiles looked awkward as he spoke to her and I couldn’t help but watch this train wreck in progress.

“Hey, Lydia. You probably don’t remember me, um, I sit behind you in biology,” Stiles leaned against the wall and Lydia turned to him, twirling her hair and had a look on her face like she was trying to recall who he was. “Uh, anyway, I always thought that we just had this kind of connection.” Did he just say that? He did not just say that. “You know, unspoken, of course,” Lydia gave him a smile. For some reason, she looked like she wasn’t paying attention to anything he was saying. “Maybe, it’d be kind of cool to get to know each other a little better.”

“Hold on. Give me a second,” She brushed her hair over her right ear and took a Bluetooth headset off her ear. “Yeah, I didn’t get any of what you just said.” I didn’t hear what else she said to him or his response to her because I had to step into a room because I’d started laughing. Crash and burn, Stiles. Crash and burn. I also had to explain to the old man in the room why I was laughing, which made him laugh in return.

“Thank you for that.”

“For what?”

“Making me laugh. I needed that,” I smiled.

“You’re welcome.”

“What’s your name, young lady?”

“Trish Roberts.”

“Well, Miss Roberts, I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you.” I laughed.

“Well, thank you, sir,” I stepped back out and saw Scott and Stiles conversing. I moved over to the nurses’ station to replace a chart and get another one. When I heard something curious come out of Stiles’ mouth.

“So he _did_ bury the other half of the body on his property.” This didn’t sound good.

“Which means we have proof he killed the girl,” Scott responded. What in holy hell were they up to now?

“I say we use it,” Stiles started to walk off.

“How?” Scott followed. I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as they’d gone out of ear shot and I do not have the hearing of a wolf. From what I was gathering, Scott and Stiles seemed to know something. Then I remembered the nurses talking about the half a body the police had found. I was still convinced she was a werewolf victim of a Hunter so if Scott and Stiles had figured out that she’d been buried on someone’s property… Then it hit me. Someone buried the other half of the body. Which meant my theory from last week was probably correct. There were werewolves in Beacon Hills again. No, I’m not getting involved. Not doing it. I was determined to keep out of the supernatural business if I could. I had to stay out of it. For Anna’s sake.

 

Tonight was Scott’s big game. Anna was at Lydia’s, the two having planned on going to the game together. I had just finished drying my hair and was brushing it out when my phone started ringing. I grabbed it but didn’t recognize the number. It was a local number so I answered.

“Hello?” A man’s voice came on the line.

_Trish?_

“No. Houdini,”

_I see you’re still a smartass._

“Who is this?”

 _It’s Derek._ The two words made me pause. And I’m pretty sure I couldn’t breathe either. I hadn’t heard from him since the fire. Or seen him since then. He was sixteen the last time I saw him. He had to be twenty two now. _Hello?_

“I’m just in shock that you’re calling me. Wait. Why are you calling me?”

_Because you’re the only person I trust in this town._

“Wait, you’re in Beacon Hills? Like right now?”

 _Right now, I’m sitting at the sheriff’s station using my phone call on you._ I sighed. Go figure. He’s barely in town and already getting in trouble.

“What did you do?”

 _I didn’t do anything. I just need you to come and bail me out._ Great.

Why are you calling me and not your sister?” I knew Laura was in town. We’d had coffee about two weeks ago and caught up. She was in town to check on Peter and take care of some family business. Derek didn’t respond. “Derek?”

 _Just get down here._ He hung up.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Bossy,” I said to my phone. I looked at the clock and sighed before texting Melissa.

 _Going to be at the game late. Something came up_ She responded a few minutes later.

_Hope everything is ok_

_It is. I’ll be there after I deal w fam drama_

_See ya soon_   Derek might as well have been family. I saw him as the little brother I never had. He and Laura both were going to owe me big time for this. I grabbed my keys and went out to my Renegade. Why didn’t he call Laura?

 

I stood at the front desk for I swear 10 minutes before an officer came out.

“May I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to bail out Derek Hale,”

“I actually don’t have his paperwork yet. I can’t tell you how much his bail is,”

“Of course,” I sighed.

“You can wait over here,” She led me over to a desk and I sat in the chair.

“Um, what was he charged with?”

“Murder,” I blinked, not quite believing what I had just heard.

“Murder? Did you just say murder? Who did he supposedly kill?”

“Young woman that was found in the woods,” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. There was no way in hell that Derek would cut someone in half. Rip out their throat maybe. But not cut them in half. I stood and bumped into a deputy, who dropped the folder he was carrying. “Oh! I’m so sorry!” I knelt down and started helping him pick up the contents. “I’m really…,” I trailed off, catching sight of a crime scene photo. Well, actually a photo of the victim in the morgue. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest constricted. “Oh, God,” I breathed.

“Ma’am?” I barely heard the deputy. I knew her.

“Oh, God, no,” Another officer helped me to my feet and quickly escorted me into the sheriff’s office.

“Ma’am. Did you know her?” Tears blurred my vision.

“Derek didn’t do this,” I said. “Derek didn’t kill her,”

“And you know this how?” I looked up at him, the tears falling.

“Because that’s his sister. That’s Laura Hale,”

 

Derek got into the passenger side of my car.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” he asked. I nodded. I was numb. It really wasn’t how I had expected to find out that my sister from another mister was dead. Derek had been released because the county had dropped the charges. Based on their evidence, they had determined that he was not the killer. We rode in silence for several minutes. The plan was to drop him off at the Hale house, for some unknown reason he was staying in the shell of his former home, and then I was going to go to the game and then go home and cry my eyes out the rest of the way.

“I’m sorry you had to find out like that,” Derek said. Now let me point out that the Derek riding shotgun is not the Derek I remember. This one is extremely angry. Sixteen year old Derek was angry, but not to this extent. The anger over his family being murdered by Hunters had stewed for six years. Oh, and let me point out that every wolf and human in that house was innocent.

“Why? Or a better question is who?”

“To trap me. It had to have been the Argents,”

“Of course. Why the hell not? They seem to be breaking Codes left and right nowadays,” Yeah, the Argents have this little honor code thingy that goes something like “We hunt those that hunt us”. Translation: If you’re a werewolf and you kill a human, you might as well kiss your ass goodbye. Literally. Your ass is going to end up several feet away from your top half. It’s how they make sure you’re dead. Or they just set your house on fire with you inside.

“Where are we going?”

“Disney Land. Where the hell do you think we’re going? I’m taking you home, dumbass,”

“We have to go to the lacrosse game,”

“Um, why is there a ‘we’ in that statement? We are taking you home so you can drive yourself to the game,”

“We don’t have time for that,”

“There’s that ‘we’ again,” Derek gave me a look that said he was contemplating on throwing me out of my own car. Through a window. That is closed.

“There’s a newly turned werewolf playing in the game. He’s only been through one full moon and doesn’t know how to control his shifts yet. If he shifts on the field, he’s going to kill someone,”

“Well, crap,” There went my plan on staying away from the supernatural. “Oh, crap!” Anna was at the game. If this kid wolfed out and started going on a killing spree… “Once again, the supernatural is infiltrating my life. It was good while it lasted,”

“Shut up and drive,”

“You shut up and let me drive or I’m going to make you ride in the back,”

 

I made myself calmly walk into the stands and I found Melissa with Stilinski. As in Sheriff Noah Stilinski, father of Stiles, the hyperactive spazz. Every time I saw the two together, I wondered why they weren’t an item. They needed to be an item. Ahem… I sat behind Melissa.

“What I miss?”

“It’s been back and forth. Scott hasn’t had the ball once,” She sounded disappointed. I searched the crowd for Derek but didn’t see him. Of course I wouldn’t. It’s Derek freaking Hale. Master of creeping. He got punched in the face when he was ten for sneaking up on me and scaring the living hell out of me. But I digress. I searched the players. Who was the werewolf? Derek didn’t feel the need to enlighten me on that. I then found Scott on the field. Number 11 was doubled over and I at first thought he might have been having an asthma attack. The referee stopped and said something to him. Scott nodded and the referee walked towards the middle of the field, glancing back at Scott. The player standing behind Scott took a couple steps back. That’s weird. I glanced at the bench and found Stiles. He was bouncing his leg and chewing on one of his gloves. He looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Or he was about to spontaneously combust. Then it hit me. He knew who the werewolf was. He was full of anxiety because he was hoping said werewolf would not wolf out and kill everyone. I glanced into the stands, looking for Anna. She was with Lydia and Allison, whooping with the rest of the fans.

“Oh, God,” I muttered. Argent was here. _Whoever you are, please, please, please, don’t wolf out._ The whistle blew and my attention went back to the field. The ball sailed into the air. Scott took off and leapt over another player, catching the ball. I’m pretty sure my jaw was in my lap. I’d never seen the kid move that fast. He ran towards the goal, dodging every single player that got in his way. Melissa screamed and jumped up and down.

“Did you see that!” she cried turning to me.

“Holy cow!” Coach started yelling at his players.

“To McCall! Pass to McCall! To McCall!” The next play, the other team got the ball. The player with the ball turned looking one of his teammates to pass the ball to and came face to face with Scott. He paused a moment, took a step back and passed the ball to Scott. Wait. What? Scott again dodged every single player standing in his way and threw the ball towards the net. The ball passed right through the goalie’s net.

“Who is that and what did they do with Scott?” I asked Melissa, who only laughed. I was beginning to suspect something about Scott. With all that activity and running he was doing, he’d normally would be having an attack by now. Realization dawned on me. It was Scott! Scott was the werewolf. That’s why Stiles’ anxiety was so high. He was praying that his best friend wouldn’t shift. The score was now tied. Five to five. Melissa high fived Stilinski.

“What…,” She couldn’t believe what she was watching. Or she couldn’t believe that Scott had gotten so good. Now I was having anxiety watching this. The ball was passed to Scott and he started running towards the goal, and then suddenly stopped.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” I whispered. “Kept it under control. Kept it under control,” The kid needed an anchor and stat. By anchor I mean just that. Laura had explained to me that werewolves learned control by finding something to focus on when they were in danger of shifting. Something that anchors them. I then wondered what Derek would do if Scott did lose control. Would he kill him? In front of everyone? Or would he do it elsewhere?

“Come on, come on, come on,” Melissa begged.

“Come on, Scott,” I whispered. I’m pretty sure _I’m_ about to spontaneously combust. I looked over at Stiles and he was standing. I saw his lips moving and I was sure he was doing the same thing as me. Willing Scott not to shift. The two players on either side of Scott finally decided to rush towards Scott. Scott finally moved, sending the ball sailing into the net, scoring the final point and winning the game. And the crowd went wild and rushed off the stands. I saw Scott tear off one of his gloves and look down at his hand before looking around. I took my eyes off him long enough the make sure I wasn’t going to fall off the stands and when I looked back up, he was gone. Holy crap that kid was fast. Stiles was still sitting on the bench, looking extremely relieved. I still couldn’t see Derek. Where the hell was he hiding? I joined Stiles.

“You look how I feel,” I said.

“What?” I smiled.

“Nothing. Great game. Super intense,” Stiles chuckled.

“Yeah it was. First game of the season is always like that,”

“Trish!” Anna came bounding up to me. “Did you see that!? That was amazing!”

“Yes, it was. You hanging with your friends tonight?”

“Yeah. Hey, can I stay over at Lydia’s?"

“You’ve gotten pretty close with her, huh?”

“Yeah. Can I? Please,”

“If it’s okay with her mom,” Anna whooped and ran back towards Lydia, who was making out with a blond haired player. Number 37. I sat down on the bench next to Stiles and was finally able to breathe. I was really starting to think about beating the crap out of Derek with a Mountain Ash stick for dragging me into this. I finally saw him standing in the shadows at the far end of the field.

“Jackass,” I whispered. I was pretty sure Derek shrugged.

“Huh?” I forgot Stiles was sitting next to me.

“Nothing. Tell Scott good game for me,” I stood and walked off. “And you can werewolf leap back home,” I muttered, knowing that Derek would hear me. I could imagine him glaring at me at that moment, but I really didn’t care. My biggest question was “Who bit Scott?”


	4. Stay Out of the Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish reveals to Scott that she knows his secret. Derek asks her to stay out of the Alpha business

_Who bit Scott?_ actually wasn’t my biggest question. _Why the hell did I let Derek drag me back into this world?_ was my biggest question. I hadn’t heard from Mr. Bossy in a few days, so my thoughts were that maybe he was out there trying to find out what new Alpha was in town. I was pretty sure it wasn’t Laura. I knew Laura had been the Alpha, Derek’s Alpha, but I was now having my doubts that she’d been killed by the Argents. Even though I knew I could lose my job over it, I managed to get ahold of her file. And it made sense now why the police had dropped the charges against Derek. She hadn’t been cut at all. She’d been ripped apart. Unless that was a new Hunter tactic, I’m pretty sure another wolf had killed her. Especially since her body had several bites and slashes on it. Which probably meant this unknown wolf was an Alpha now. And more than likely bit Scott to build his or her pack. But the asshole didn’t seemed to have bothered to stick around to teach their new Beta Werewolf 101. Which probably meant Derek was going to have to do it, being the only other werewolf in Beacon Hills. Well, aside from Peter, but he didn’t exactly count. Truthfully, I wanted to kill this Alpha for killing my best friend. I wanted to fill bullets with Mountain Ash and wolfsbane and empty a clip into the sorry sack of shit’s chest. I was angry. And I knew Derek was. But Derek still thought that it had been the Argents that killed Laura. Or did he? Derek hadn’t told me what he knew. He was probably still mad at me for leaving him at the lacrosse field.

 

Did I also mention that I work in the ER? Apparently some large animal, the authorities were saying mountain lion, attacked a bus driver and tore the hell out of a school bus at the high school last night. The bus driver, Garrison Meyers, was currently in the ER. He was in critical condition but mostly stable. I was checking on him and saw that he was out cold. Which gave me a chance to actually look at his wounds. And what I saw didn’t match any mountain lion claws I’d ever seen. This man had been attacked by a werewolf. There were claw marks everywhere. I wondered if it had been Scott or the unknown Alpha.

“Hey, you okay?” I jumped not having heard Melissa come into the room.

“I’m fine. I’m just shocked at the amount of damage and the fact he survived that,” I covered. I was surprised that he’d survived. That wasn’t a lie.

“He still might not,”

“True,” I had to tell Derek about this. If he didn’t already know about it. And maybe talk about it to a friend of mine that I trusted more than anyone in this crazy town.

 

I was standing at the nurses’ station doing work on the computer when Scott came in. Melissa chuckled

“Is my beautiful, talented and wonderful son actually bringing me dinner?” she asked.

“Thought you wouldn’t mind skipping the cafeteria tonight,” Bullshit alert. I know he wants something.

“You are the most thoughtful, loving, most conniving little con artist ever,” Mama McCall for the win. “You are so not getting the car tomorrow night,” And there it is. I bit my lip to keep from laughing

“Mom,”

“What? There’s a curfew. No car,” Melissa reached out and took the bag with the takeout in it. “But I will take this,” She turned around and headed towards the back. She waved at him with the hand holding the bag. “Love you,” She disappeared into the back.

“Love you, too,” I started chuckling.

“I applaud the effort, Scott,” I said. He sighed.

“Thanks. I guess,” I chuckled and went back to work as Scott turned to leave. A moment later, he walked past the nurses’ station.

“Scott? The exit is that way,” I said. Either he ignored me or he was so focused on something else that he didn’t hear me. I shrugged. Apparently, werewolves have selective hearing. Especially teenaged ones. Several minutes later, I heard screaming. I immediately jumped up and took off towards the sound. Melissa beat me to the room. Meyers’ room.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” she cried. Meyers had a death grip on Scott’s sleeve. “Get out! Now! Go!” Melissa separated Meyers from his sleeve and I grabbed his arm and dragged him out.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked. Scott’s mouth worked and I knew he was trying to think of an excuse. I pulled him into an empty room and shut the door. “You know who did this, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know, Scott,” He just looked at me.

“How?”

“I figured it out at the lacrosse game,” Scott looked scared for a moment. “I’ve been in your world a long time,”

“You didn’t happen to see me last night?” I shook my head and then realized Scott thought that he’d done this. I sighed.

“Go to Derek. He’ll help you figure this out,”

“You know Derek?”

“Very well. I also know he’s the only other werewolf that will be halfway willing to teach you Werewolf 101,” Scott sighed. “You can’t do this on your own. And Stiles sure as hell can’t teach you how to use your abilities and neither can I,” Scott just nodded and left the room. I left a moment later. “Scott?” He turned back to me. “Keep Anna from finding out,” He nodded and then walked out the entrance.

 

I was pulling a double shift tonight. Anna was at home doing her homework. At least I was pretty sure she was at home doing homework and not out breaking curfew with her friends. Of course, she was just like me and probably was. Yeah, I’m the perfect role model. Go out past curfew. Hang out with some werewolves. Do homework. Go to work. Try to figure out how a werewolf was able to best a powerful Alpha who happened to be your best friend. You know, normal stuff. What happened to when the only thing I had to worry about was paying the bills on time? Where can I get a Mountain Ash bat to beat Derek with? And speak of the devil, he just walked through the door. He looked a little more pissed than usual. And he was making a beeline for Meyers’ room. I went to intercept him. I must have startled him because he suddenly turned and pushed me against the wall, which startled me. He’d never done that before. He let go of me.

“What are you doing?” I asked. This new Derek kinda scared me. I’ll admit it. Derek had always had a quick temper, but this was anger management worthy.

“Just stay out of the way, Trish,”

“Hey, you’re the one that dragged me into this crap. So don’t you tell me to stay out of the way. I could have left you at the sheriff’s station. I didn’t have to come down there to bail you out,”

“I needed your help. You helped. Now stay out of this,” He all but growled before he turned and walked away and I didn’t follow. What happened to make him change so much? I snorted and turned and walked away. Next time he needed bail money, he was going to have to call someone else. If he wanted me to stay out of it, I will. He better not come knocking at my door again needing help. Because he wasn’t going to get it.

 

Melissa seemed to have picked up on my mood.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,”

“You’re not your usual chippy self,” I sighed.

“Just a lot on my mind. I found out the other day that my best friend was murdered and then I got into a fight with her brother,”

“I’m so sorry,” Derek chose that moment to walk by. I didn’t even give him a second glance. “You know, if you need to talk, I’m here,”

“Thanks, Melissa,” She squeezed my shoulder and then turned to grab her purse.

“Girl, I am outta here. There’s a DVR at home full of unwatched TV, waiting to remind me how ridiculously single I really am,” I chuckled for probably the first time since Derek pushed me against the wall. An alarm started beeping at that moment and both Melissa and I looked to see what room it was.

“Oh, crap,” I took off down the hall.

“Rose, call a code. Room 137,” I beat Melissa to the room this time. But we were too late. Garrison Meyers had flatlined.

 

_Derek, what did you do?_


	5. Nordic Blue Monkshood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish, Stiles and Scott race to save Derek. Trish struggles with Derek's request while attempting to convince Scott to trust her friend.

I still couldn’t believe that Derek had killed Meyers. What reason would Derek have to kill him? It didn’t make any sense. Anna was still doing homework when I checked in on her.

“What are you still doing up?” I asked.

“Because my chem teacher is Satan reincarnate and gives us a million pages of homework.”

“His name doesn’t happen to be Mr. Harris, does it?”

“How did you know?”

“Because I think enjoys making everyone’s lives hell. I had him for chem too.”

“I went and visited Peter today.”

“You’ve been visiting Peter a lot.”

“Did Jennifer tell you?”

“Yes, she’s glad to see that he has visitors. She thinks it might help bring him back.”

“He had another visitor today.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. He was real quiet though. He didn’t stay very long after I got there.” I had a guess on who that could have been. I sat on the bed.

“Dark hair, olive eyes, perfect jawline, sculpted torso, always has a scowl on his face?” Don’t look at me like that. Derek seems to like wearing tight shirts. It’s not hard to imagine what that torso of his looks like. Anna turned and looked at me.

“How did you…?”

“That’s Peter’s nephew, Derek.”

“Laura’s brother.”

“Yeah,” I got up and went and leaned over the desk. “Need any help?”

 

After school the next day, I went to pick Anna up from school. She seemed to be in a great mood today.

“I aced my history test,” she said proudly as she buckled her seatbelt.

“That’s great!”

“I think I got the highest — Oh, my God!” A horn honked and I looked up. To see Derek on the ground in front of a steel blue Jeep.

“What the hell?” I said.

“Did Stiles just hit him?” Scott ran over to him as Stiles got out of his Jeep. I started to unbuckle my seatbelt to go see if he was alright, then stopped. It was Derek. He was probably looking for Scott and probably just walked out in front of Stiles. Although, I really couldn’t see Derek doing that. But he wanted me to stay out of whatever he was doing. Derek sat up after Scott knelt down next to him.

“Stay here,” I got out of my car and took several steps towards them. Derek suddenly started wincing and Scott looked around. I knew something was wrong then.

“What are you doing? Stop that!”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I can’t!”

“Derek, get up,” I reached them at this point. Cars had been honking the entire time. Derek was breathing heavily. I knelt next to him and saw that his eyes were glowing. Not a good sign. “Help me get him in the car,” Scott and I pulled Derek to his feet and we all but shoved him into the Jeep.

“I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used.”

“Oh lovely. You got yourself shot. Why am I not surprised?”

Derek glared at me.

“How the hell are we supposed to do that?”

“There’s no _we_ to this,” I said. “You’re on your own. I’m not getting involved with this.”

“Why not?”

“I was told to stay out of this so that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“She’s an Argent. She’s with them.”

“Why should I help you?”

“Because you need me.”

I sighed.

“You do need him. Derek’s the only one that can teach you anything,” Derek gave me a look. “Alright, I’m going. Sorry for taking your side on this.” I walked away.

“Fine. I’ll try.” I went out of earshot and back to the Renegade.

“Is he okay?” Anna asked.

“Yeah. Stiles bumped him.” Stiles drove off and Scott raced back to his bike. “He’s going to take him to the ER and make sure there’s no tissue damage.” I immediately felt bad for lying to Anna. I’ve never lied to her before. No, not bad. I felt horrible. I drove off. We were going to go visit Peter and then we were going home so Anna could study for a test.

 

 _I’m not getting involved._ I kept saying to myself. I wouldn’t have been able to help Scott anyway. He was on his own with that. Anna had gone to the bathroom but left her phone. I scrolled through and found Stiles’ number.

 _I’m not getting involved._ I quickly typed in his contact info.

“I shouldn’t get involved.” I said to Peter. “He told me not to. But I don’t want those kids getting hurt. Especially Scott.” I heard Anna’s footsteps coming back.

 _I’m not getting involved._ Anna returned and then sat on the bed.

“I wrote a new poem today. Wanna hear it?” she asked Peter as she dug through her bag for the journal she kept her poems in. As she began to read the poem to Peter, I looked down at my phone.

_I’m not getting involved._

 

 _Keep me updated on Derek ~ Trish._ I really wasn’t getting involved. I was just checking on my friend’s brother. We’ll go with that. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

_Scott hasn’t found it yet. Derek looks like death warmed over_

_It had to have some poison in the bullet. Derek would have healed already if it didn’t_

_What kind of poison?_

_You’re the werewolf expert now. You tell me_

_This looks bad._

 

“Hey, Anna. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” She was chatting with Peter like he was an old friend. I went out into the hall and called Stiles.

_Hello?_

“What do you mean ‘This looks bad’?”

_The bullet wound. It looks bad._

“Define bad,”

_Well the wound itself is glowing blue and his blood is starting to take on a black color. So is his skin._

“It’s glowing blue?” What kind of poison was that?

_Derek’s giving me go to hell looks right now so I gotta go before he makes good on his threat to rip my throat out with his teeth._

“Oh, dear God.” Derek seemed to have grown more violent in the last six years. “Just keep me updated.”

 

 

I picked up my phone to see Stiles was calling me.

“What?” _I need your help. Get to the animal clinic._

“And why are we going to the animal clinic?”

_Because that’s where Scott told me to take Derek_

“What are we going to do? Give Derek his distemper shot?”

_He’s looking worse, Trish. Just meet me at the animal clinic._

“Fine,” I hung up and sighed.

 _I wasn’t going to get involved._ I went upstairs.

“Hey Anna?”

“Yeah?”

“I have to go help a friend with something. I’ll be back later.”

“Okay. Nothing serious?”

“I hope not. Their dog is sick and he needs help getting him to the emergency vet.”

“Big dog?”

“He can’t carry him by himself.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t stay up too long. You have school tomorrow.”

“Yes, Mom,” she said with a smile. I stuck my tongue out at her. Derek would so kill me if he had heard any of that.

 

Stiles and I pulled up at the same time. Derek stumbled out of the Jeep and nearly fell. I caught him before he ended up in the trash. Stiles was right, he was looking worse. He’d shed his jacket. Once I saw he wasn’t going to fall over, I let go and we followed Stiles to the back door, my hand hovering behind Derek. Derek was grasping his left arm. Stiles turned on the light as his phone chirped and Derek collapsed on a pile of dog food bags. I knelt in front of him and moved his hand away so I could look at the wound. In the light, I could tell he was dying. Derek was pale and sweat covered his face.

“Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?”

“Oh, shit,” I said. I knew exactly what that was.

“It’s a rare form of wolfsbane,” Derek answered, then sighed. “He has to bring me the bullet.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m gonna die without it.” He looked up at Stiles. As did I. Stiles had an “Oh, crap” look on his face.

“Get that door open. And tell Scott to hurry up.” After sending the text, Stiles opened the door and I helped Derek to his feet. Derek stumbled through the door, taking his shirt off as Stiles turned on the lights. He dropped his shirt and then leaned over the exam table. His breathing had gotten more labored. And I’m going to take this moment to point out that I was right about the sculpted torso. Although I was more focused on how bad Derek’s wound looked. I could see the poison in his veins all the way to his wrist and halfway up his bicep.

“Scott really needs to get his ass here now,” I said.

“You know, that really doesn’t look like anything some Echinacea and a good night’s sleep couldn’t take care of.”

I glared at Stiles.

“Seriously?”

“When the infection reaches my heart, it’ll kill me.” Derek was breathless now. He turned around and started opening cabinets and I saw he now had a triskilion tattooed on his back. Funny, I didn’t know werewolves could get tattoos. But I also knew the meaning behind it.

“Positivity just isn’t in your vocabulary, is it?” I immediately started going through cabinets too. Although I was looking for something different. Actually, I have no idea what Derek was looking for, but I knew Alan had something here that could possibly help slow the poison long enough for Scott to get here with the bullet. Just where the hell was it?

“If he doesn’t get here with the bullet in time, last resort….” I found what I was looking for and went through the jars.

“Damn it,” I muttered. I didn’t see anything that I could use to slow down rare wolfsbane poisoning.

“Which is?” Wait… Did Derek just say last resort?

“You’re going to cut off my arm.” I spun around to see Derek was holding a bone saw. And Stiles looked like he was going to be sick.

“No,” I said. “No. There is not going to be any arms being cut off.”

“Would you rather I died?”

“I’d rather find something to slow the poison. I have something but we don’t have time for me to go home and get it.”

“Then Stiles or you are going to have to cut off my arm.” I looked at him dumbfounded. He was serious about this. He set the bone saw down on the table and pushed it towards Stiles. I texted Scott as Stiles turned on the saw.

 

_GET HERE NOW!!!!_

 

Hopefully that would light a fire under Teen Wolf’s ass.

“Oh, my God! What if you bleed to death?” Derek started wrapping a tourniquet around his upper arm.

“It’ll heal if it works,” he said, one end of the tourniquet in his mouth. “Also isn’t that why you called Trish?”

“I’m a nurse, not a surgeon.” Why _did_ Stiles call me? Stiles sighed and I could see he didn’t like the idea any more than I did.

“Look, I don’t know if I can do this.” He really looked like he was going to be sick.

“Why not?”

“Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!” Derek finished tying off the tourniquet and dropped the hand of his injured arm on the table, an “are you freaking kidding me?” look on his face.

“You faint at the sight of blood?”

“No. But I might at the sight of a chopped off arm!”

“Then give it to her!”

“I can’t do it either.” I was beyond shocked that Derek was even considering this.

“Trish!”

“No! I’m not cutting off your arm! I’m not cutting off the arm of a man I love like a brother! You can’t make me do that! Spout out as many threats as you want, I’m not doing it!”

Derek sighed and looked back at Stiles.

“How about this? Either you cut off my arm or I’m gonna cut off your head,” I rolled my eyes. What was with him and threatening people into doing what he wanted?

“Okay, you know, I’m so not buying your threats anymore,” Derek grabbed Stiles by his shirt and pulled him towards him. “Oh, my God! Okay! Alright! Bought, sold, totally. I’ll do it. I’ll do it.” Derek suddenly looked sick. Then he started heaving. And I’m pretty sure it’s not because he had a hairball. “What are you doing?” Scott had better walk through that door in the next five seconds or we’re going to have to explain why we’ve done major surgery in an animal clinic. Derek leaned away from Stiles and vomited black blood onto the floor. I jumped back, fear that I was watching Derek die gripping my heart.

“Oh, God!” This was a really bad sign.

“Holy God!” Stiles exclaimed. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s my body,” He was partially laying over the table. “It’s trying to heal itself.”

“Well, it’s not doing a very good job of it.” He looked up at Stiles.

“Now. You gotta do it now.” Then he looked at me. And I was sure he saw the horror on my face and hear my wildly beating heart. “Trish, you’re going to have to hold me down.” I shook my head. “Please.” I could feel tears in my eyes as I stepped forward and leaned against his back holding onto his shoulders.

“Look, honestly, I don’t think I can.”

“Just do it!” Derek screamed. Stiles grabbed the bone saw.

“Oh, my God. Okay. Oh, my God.” He placed the saw against Derek’s arm right below the tourniquet. I turned away and squeezed my eyes shut, laying my head down on Derek’s back. I couldn’t watch. It was going to be bad enough that I was going to have to listen to it. I could feel Derek’s respiratory rate increasing. “Alright. Here we go!”

“Stiles?”

I raised my head at hearing Scott.

“Scott?” Scott came into the room and took in the scene of me holding Derek down and Stiles holding a bone saw against Derek’s arm. “What the hell are you doing?” I will admit it. I could have kissed Scott right then. I got off of Derek, beyond relieved but hoping he had been able to get the bullet. Stiles set the saw down.

“Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares.”

“No, shit,” I agreed. Derek hadn’t moved.

“Did you get it?” he asked breathlessly. Scott dug into his pocket and pulled out a rifle bullet, handing it to Derek. Derek straightened and looked at it.

“What are you going to do with it?” Stiles asked.

“I’m gonna… I’m gonna….” And I knew that look. The moment I registered that Derek was about to faint, he dropped the bullet.

“No, don’t!” Scott cried as the bullet hit the floor and started rolling. “No, no, no!”

“Derek!” Scott chased the bullet as I rushed towards Derek as the elder werewolf passed out. He hit the floor hard. Scott dove under a table, grumbling. “Derek!” I shook him. He was out cold.

“Come on, Derek.” Stiles slapped his face a couple of times. “Wake up!” I immediately checked his pulse. “Scott, what the hell are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know!” Scott was trying to reach the bullet. Of course, it fell in a drain. Why can’t our luck ever be good? “I can’t reach it,” Derek’s pulse was slowing down, which made mine increase.

“He’s not waking up!”

“Panicking is not going to help.” Mostly, it was said for my own benefit.

“I think he’s dying. I think he’s dead.”

“Shut up! He’s not dead yet. Dying, yes. Dead, not yet.”

“Just hold on!” Scott shouted. Oh, how I wished I was a healer at this moment. Why couldn’t have been born with that ability? “I got it! I got it!” I looked up as the claws on Scott’s right hand retracted as he stood.

“Please don’t kill me for this,” Stiles said. I looked back at him as he pulled his fist back and punched Derek as hard as he could, making contact with his cheek. That woke him up. “Ow! God!”

“Next time let me do it. I owe him a few.”

“Give me that,” Derek whispered and Scott handed him the bullet. Scott and I helped him to his feet and I steadied him, while Stiles was still loudly making pained noises. Derek bit the top of the bullet off, Scott giving him an odd look. He spit it out and then tapped the Nordic blue out on the table.

“Scott, back up,” I said as Derek pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit the poison up. Yep, Derek carried a werewolf first aid kit. Burning it out was how a werewolf treated normal wolfsbane poisoning. The Nordic blue sparked and Derek leaned back. I’m pretty sure I was the only one that didn’t move. Once the flames went out, Derek brushed the ashes into his hand. Now, I’ve seen this treatment before and it ain’t pretty. Derek hesitated a moment looking at the ash and then at his arm. He took several breaths, preparing himself for the pain to come, before he slammed the ash into his wound.

“Ugh!” I took a step back and he pushed the ash deeper before screaming and collapsing. Which meant the ash was working. I knew the danger of being too close but I knelt next to him anyway as he screamed and writhed in pain. Scott moved next to Stiles, a horrified look on his face.

“Stay back!” I warned, not taking my own advice. Derek’s fangs extended and he did a final scream that turned into a roar. The wound healed and Derek lay there a minute, panting. I placed a hand on his arm.

“That was awesome!” Stiles said. Both Scott and I looked at him like he’d grown another head. “Yes!”

“Seriously?” Derek started to sit up and I helped him. He was already looking like his normal self.

“Are you okay?” Scott asked.

“Except for the agonizing pain?” I helped Derek stand.

“I’m guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health,” Stiles smarted off, earning one of Derek’s famous looks. Yep. He’s going to be just fine. Derek reached over and started taking the tourniquet off.

“Okay. We saved your life, which means you’re gonna leave us alone. You got that?”

“You don’t get it, do you?” I asked. “You need to learn how to control this. Derek’s the only one who can teach you. Your Alpha sure isn’t going to.”

“Um, how does Trish know about the Alpha?”

“I’m not stupid. I didn’t just learn about werewolves yesterday.” Scott ignored everything I’d just said.

“If you don’t leave us alone, I’m gonna go back to Allison’s dad and I’m going to tell him everything.”

I scoffed.

“You’ll go to the Argents. That’s your big plan?”

“You’re gonna trust them?” Derek asked. “You think they can help you?”

“Why not? They’re a lot freaking nicer than you are!”

“He did _not_ just say that.”

Derek scoffed.

“Yeah, I can show you exactly how nice they are.”

“What do you mean?”

I just threw my hands up.

“I’m done!” Derek looked over at me. “Scott, they’re freaking Hunters, you idiot! They’re not nice!” Derek picked up his shirt and put it on.

“Come on, Scott. I’ll show you how nice the Argents really are.” Scott looked at me.

“Oh, don’t look at me. I’m going home to pass out and pray to God I don’t have any nightmares tonight.” I quickly walked out, considering punching Stiles in the face for calling me to come help. Anna was asleep when I got home. Thank God. I knew exactly what Derek was going to show Scott. He was going to take him to Beacons Crossing. To see Peter. To show them what the Argents do. I flopped down on my bed. The Argents knew the Hales were werewolves. When I first found out about werewolves, Talia explained everything to me. Hunters. Alphas. Betas. Omegas. I knew what each eye color stood for. And Talia had warned me about the Argents. She told me they could not be trusted. Especially their patriarch, Gerard. She didn’t trust the man at all. When I was seventeen, she relayed the story of what he’d done to a friend of hers. A friend that had sought peace with the Hunters. A peace Gerard refused to have. It irked me that Scott wanted to trust the Argents, all because he was dating their daughter. If Allison didn’t already know about the world of werewolves, it was a matter of time before she did. And before she started training to be a Hunter herself.


	6. Conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish has to balance Stiles' obsessiveness, Derek's anger, and a parent teacher conference all while trying to keep Anna from learning the truth

I hadn’t talked to Derek, Scott or Stiles since the Nordic blue incident. Derek still wanted me to stay out of everything, although between the two of us we managed to finally convince Scott that learning from Derek would be in his best interest. But my mind wasn’t on newly turned werewolves, angry, jackass Betas or Alphas. I was more worried about the parent teacher conferences tonight. I didn’t really think I had anything to worry about but considering who Anna was friends with, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a good report behavior wise. I had the day off, so I was catching up on laundry. I picked up the phone without looking at who was calling.

“Hello?”

_It’s Stiles._

“If Derek got shot again, I’m not helping.”

_No. What’s up with you two anyway?_

“What do you mean?”

_You keep saying you’re not going to help, then you end up helping._

“Because I’m an idiot, apparently. What do you want, Stiles?”

_The Alpha killed someone again last night._

“And you’re telling me why? You do realize that I keep being told to stay out of this, right?”

_Why? Because you’re human?_

“Unlike you, I do have someone I have to take care of. If I get hurt, Anna’s all I got.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. I could defend myself from an Alpha. The truth was I was still pissed at Derek for what he did at the hospital and for nearly making me help cut his arm off. “Besides isn’t that Scott and Derek’s job?” Stiles didn’t answer.

_I guess you’re right. I wasn’t thinking._

“Stiles, I know you’re just trying to help your friend, but you could get hurt, too. I know how hard headed you are, but just be careful.”

 _I will._ He hung up. Several minutes later the phone rang again. I looked down and saw it was Stiles again.

“What, Stiles?”

_What’s your connection to the Hales?_

“What?”

_That night when Derek almost died. You said you wouldn’t do it because you loved him like a brother._

“And?”

_So what’s your connection? Are you a human Hale?_

“Oh, dear God,” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Why is that your first conclusion?”

_Are you a cousin?_

“If your obsessive brain must know, I was Laura’s best friend. I’ve known the family since I was six years old. Derek is the brother I never had.”

_So you knew…_

“That they’re wolves? Yes, I knew.”

_How did you find out?_

“Stiles.”

_Yes?_

“Goodbye,” I hung up on him. I was able to finish the laundry. I went upstairs to put it away when I heard the door open.

“Trish! I’m home!” Anna came up the stairs and I stepped out of her room, where I’d laid her clean clothes on her desk. Her bed was way too messy to hold her clothes.

“I thought you were going to Allison’s after school.”

“She was home sick today.”

“Oh.”

“Something happened to Lydia and Jackson last night. Jackson was really tense today and Lydia never came to school.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“It’s okay. I’m going to work on a poem for Peter.”

“You really like him, don’t you?”

“Yeah. He needs someone to visit him and talk to him. Maybe more interaction will help bring him out of it.”

“You are an angel,” I said. Anna smiled and disappeared into her room. I went to my room to put up my clothes when my phone rang again. I sighed when I saw it was Stiles. I let it ring. Then he called again.

“What do you want now?”

_Lydia saw him._

“Who? Bigfoot?”

_The Alpha. She saw him._

“And she told you this?”

 _She caught it on video._ I didn’t say anything. _She doesn’t know she has it._

“Are you sure?”

 _She so drunk on anti-anxiety meds right now. She didn’t even go to school today. I think Jackson saw him too_.

“What makes you think that?”

_He’s been acting like he has a bomb up his ass._

“Doesn’t he always act like that?”

_Well, yeah, but this is different. He’s almost like a ticking time bomb. Trish, Scott won’t answer his phone. I don’t know what to do. What would you do?_

“Protect the pack,” I immediately said, automatically lowering my voice. I was amazed at how easily I slipped back into the art of secret keeping and lying to protect a wolf pack. Although technically I was never officially part of the Hale Pack, despite what Laura said. At least not yet. I possibly could have had the Argents not set the fire.

_Protect the pack? You mean like protect the Alpha?_

“No, you idiot. If your dad and every other human finds out about the Alpha, they’ll find out about Scott and Derek. And if the Hunters find out that Scott is the Alpha’s Beta, they will use him to draw out the Alpha.”

_And if they can’t?_

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

_Not really, no._

“Look, Stiles, I have to get ready to go to the parent teacher conference.” I needed to end this phone call before Anna overheard something she didn’t need to. I put away my clothes and then changed. I threw my hair into a pony tail and then went into Anna’s room. The door was open, so I knocked on her door frame before I realized she had headphones in. I went over and tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump. She took the headphones out.

“Sorry. I’m heading to the conference. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay,” she smiled.

“Hopefully I won’t hear anything bad.”

“Why would you?”

I laughed. Maybe I didn’t have anything to worry about after all.

 

In the car, my phone rang again. I sighed and grabbed the phone.

“Damn it, Stiles! Stop calling me!”

 _I’m not Stiles._ Derek growled.

“Don’t you dare growl at me!”

 _It wasn’t the Argents._ I was glad we were not face to face at that moment. _It was the Alpha._ I knew he was talking about his sister.

“Then he’s a new Alpha. One trying to build a pack.”

 _Yes._ I could tell by Derek’s voice that he was pissed.

“How did you come by this information?”

_Kate paid me a visit today. Right before she tried to kill me. Again._

“Again? What do you mean, again?”

_She’s the one who shot me with the Nordic blue. I had the Alpha and she shot me. Then she tried to shoot me again today._

“How about you stay out of the Argents crosshairs for once?”

_I would be if Scott and Stiles hadn’t basically announced to them that I was here by snooping around the house and finding the part of Laura’s body I had buried._

“You buried half of Laura on the Hale property? You do know the county owns that property now?”

_I know. She was buried under wolfsbane. If they hadn’t pulled that up, I wouldn’t have been arrested and I wouldn’t have been forced to pull you out of your perfect little world and back into mine._

“Look, Derek. I moved on. I went on to live my life. I hate the Argents as much as you do, but we both know we can’t prove they were involved with the fire.” I was glad that Derek couldn’t hear my heartbeat at that moment. I really hadn’t moved on. I didn’t think I’d ever really move on.

 _They were involved._ He sounded positive.

“Derek, I have a parent teacher conference I have to be at. I’m not going to keep dropping everything to help you. Only to have you slam me into walls and tell me to stay out of it.”

_Because Laura wouldn’t want you involved._

“You know this for a fact.”

 _I know for a fact Josh wouldn’t want you to._ He knew what buttons to push to make me hesitate. And hurt.

“So you’re going to use Josh against me?”

_You can’t defend yourself from the Alpha._

“And you apparently can’t defend yourself from Hunters.” I hung up as I pulled into the school. I was going to focus on this conference and not think about the Alpha or the fact that I probably pissed off Derek even more. Even though he just pissed me off by bringing up my long dead boyfriend.

 

“Even with the loss of her mother, she seems to be adjusting very well.” Every single teacher I’d talked to had said the very same thing. “She very focused and gives 110%.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“She’s not as social as I think she can as she only interacts with certain people. She is a very shy girl when it comes to new people.”

“Considering what she’s been through, can you really blame her?”

Anna’s English teacher chuckled.

“Certainly not. All in all, she’s one of the better students I’ve had.” She stood and held her hand out. “It’s a pleasure to have visited with you and I really hope that Anna continues this positive path.”

“I hope so too.” I stepped out of the hall and came face to face with Chris and Victoria Argent.

“Oh, excuse me,” Chris said.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking at where I was going.”

“You’re Anna’s sister, correct?”

“Yes.”

“She’s over all the time,” Victoria said. “Very sweet girl.”

I smiled.

“Thank you.” I wanted to get away as fast as I could. “Um, I still have the chemistry teacher to talk to.”

“Good luck.”

“And to you.” I quickly made my way down the hall to Mr. Satan, excuse me, Mr. Harris’ room. I’d saved him for last on purpose. But I was glad the Argents hadn’t realized who I was. The last thing I wanted them to do was start questioning Anna about what she knew about Derek or my connection to the Hales.

 

 _Pig._ was my only thought when Adrian Harris started talking about Anna needing a father figure. It took everything not to punch him in the nose. I stepped outside when I saw Melissa on the phone.

“Scott, you need to call me right now. And I mean right now!” She hung up.

“What’s wrong, Melissa?”

“Scott was supposed to be here because he’s making below a C in everything. He’s not answering his phone and it’s going straight to voicemail.” I thought about calling Derek and seeing if he’d heard from him, but knowing Derek, he was probably still pissed about me hanging up on him earlier. To hell with it. He owed me for coming to bail him out of jail. I pulled my phone out and started scrolling through my contacts. Melissa saw the Argents and started to approach them. I was actually surprised that Derek answered.

_What?_

“Hey, don’t ‘what’ me like that. I need a favor.”

_Yes?_

“Have you heard anything from Scott?”

_No. Why would he contact me?_

“Uh, maybe because you’re supposed to be mentoring him,”

_Why are you asking?_

“He was supposed to be at the conferences but never showed up. I’m….” I saw Scott get out of Allison’s car. I sighed. “Never mind. False alarm. Apparently he just skipped school with his girlfriend.” Derek muttered something under his breath before hanging up. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his revenge for me hanging up on him earlier. Melissa marched over to Scott and Allison. I could tell Melissa was about to be tough mom.

“Where exactly have you been!?”

“Nowhere, Mom.”

“Nowhere, meaning not at school.”

“Kind of.” Allison’s parents were marching over to them now. This was about to get interesting.

“It’s not his fault,” Allison defended him. “It’s my birthday and we were —” Chris interrupted her explanation.

“Allison,” He pointed towards her car. “In the car.” Then a scream rang out. Now that wasn’t good. I immediately looked over in the direction of the scream. People were running and there was a lot of yelling. I really hoped the Alpha wasn’t stupid enough to come here with all these people. Remember me saying that I could defend myself from an Alpha. Well, that wasn’t going to happen in front of all the parents and teachers of Beacon Hills High School. Scott slowly started moving towards the yelling, as if he were hunting. I saw Chris go to his car. Allison was slowly walking around as well, looking for the source of the panic. I wasn’t much better. Then I heard the growl.

 _Crap._ So he was stupid enough to reveal himself in front of innocent humans. Way to keep the secret, dumbass. I heard a car honk and saw that Allison was backing up towards the path of a car. As did Scott.

“Allison!” He raced towards her, picking her up by the hips and saving her from being hit by the car. I really hoped that I was the only one who noticed how quickly he moved. He set her down on the safety of the sidewalk, her mother at her side a few minutes later.

“Move! Move!” I heard Stilinski yell. I looked over in the direction of his voice. Just in time to see a car back into him.

“Stilinski!” I cried and raced over to him.

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t sound okay.”

“I’m fine.” He reached down and lifted his pant leg, drawing the service piece there. I jumped when I heard the gunshots. I immediately looked over at Scott, who was still standing protectively by Allison, but had been joined by Melissa. A second gunshot sounded and I looked around and saw Chris had shot something. And I was really hoping it wasn’t the Alpha. Curiosity got the best of me and I joined the crowd to see what Chris had shot. Which turned out to be a mountain lion. I noticed Scott kept giving Chris worried looks, almost like he expected him to turn around and shoot him. Chris looked over his shoulder at his daughter, then back to the mountain lion as it died. Then he looked at Scott. I think Scott truly realized at that moment how nice the Argents were. I think it finally sunk in how dangerous Hunters really were.


	7. Night School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish worries about Derek. Anna finds something strange at the high school after dark

“I have weird friends,” Anna said when she got into the car after school.

“Of course, you do. You’re friends with Stiles,” Anna giggled.

“I mean, really weird. Him and Scott have been acting weirder than normal.”

“Oh?”

“Scott was avoiding everyone today. I think Stiles is mad at him over something.” I knew exactly what Stiles was mad about. He though Scott should have been able to keep his dad from getting hurt the night of the conferences. Stilinski had refused to ride in the ambulance. I had visited him the next day to see how he was feeling. Sore and bruised had been his answer. I was glad it wasn’t serious. But what was serious was the look Chris had given me and Scott looked like he just wanted to crawl under a rock and live there. That really wouldn’t have been a bad idea.

“Then later on I saw Stiles throwing lacrosse balls at Scott.”

“Practice?”

“No free period. Then I heard Scott got his butt kicked by some seniors,” I shook my head. What the hell were those two doing now?

 

“Hey, Peter,” I said, walking through the door. “How are you today?” He didn’t answer of course. “Look who I brought.” Anna followed me into the room.

“Hi, Peter!” Anna then started chatting about her day.

“Trish? Can I talk to you?” Jennifer asked.

“Sure.” We stepped out of the room. “What’s up?”

“Anna’s been spending a lot of time here. She comes more than you do.”

“Really?”

“She talks to him like she would one of her friends. I’m concerned about her.”

“Why do you say that?”

“What if he never comes out of it? I don’t want her to get her hopes up too high.”

“Anna knows that he may never come out of his catatonic state. But she does hope that her interaction will help break through to him.”

“I hope so too,” Jennifer paused. “Have you seen Derek? He hasn’t been visiting much lately. Last time I saw him, he’d snuck in here after visiting hours with a teenager.” That had to have been the night Derek had almost died. The night he showed Peter to Scott.

“He’s had a lot on his mind lately,” I said. “Next time I see him, I’ll remind him to come visit his uncle.”

 

Lydia came to the hospital to pick Anna up. The two were studying together, Lydia promising to help her get her math grade up. Lydia also managed to convince me to allow Anna to spend the night. Allison was still grounded for skipping school with Scott. I had stopped by the bathroom before I left myself. As I approached Peter’s room, I could hear Derek’s voice.

“I need your help,” he said. I stopped and listened. “If you can hear me, I need you to give me a sign. Blink. Raise a finger. Anything. Just… Just something to point me in the right direction, okay?” There was a long pause. I knew I shouldn’t be eavesdropping on Derek, but there was just something about his voice. “Someone killed Laura. Your niece.” I could hear the pain in Derek’s voice. I knew he’d been holding back the grief of losing his older sister. The two had been very close and he loved her with all his heart. Derek had been the only boy, and the middle child, but he would kill to protect his sisters. The same way I’d kill to protect Anna. “Laura?” Derek paused again and I suspected that Derek was trying to push down his emotions. “Whoever he is, he’s an Alpha now. But he’s one without a pack. Which means he’s not as strong. I can take him.” I wanted to slap Derek hearing him say that. It was true that anger made a werewolf stronger, but this Alpha had been strong enough to kill Laura. “But I have to find him first.” Which meant Derek was going to try to do this on his own, true lone wolf style. Which made me realize, with Laura dead and Peter in a type of werewolf coma, Derek was an Omega. He was a lone wolf. He wasn’t going to be as strong as he had been in the past. “Look, if you know something, just give me a sign. Is it one of us? Someone else make it out of the fire? Just give me anything.” Derek sounded desperate now. “Blink, raise a finger, just anything.” I bit my lip, my heart breaking at the desperation in his voice. “Say something!”

“Let him go!” I jumped, not realizing that Jennifer had walked up. “You think after six years of this, yelling at him is going to get a response?”

“You got a better method?”

“Patience. He’ll respond if you give him the time.”

“I don’t have any more time.” Derek stalked out of the room and down the hall. I made my escape before Jennifer decided to ask me why I was eavesdropping. How could I keep out of this when Derek was desperate enough to ask his catatonic uncle for help? I walked out the doors as a black Camaro sped off.

 

**ANNA**

 

“No, he hasn’t called me,” I said. Lydia and Jackson were sitting on the bed, making out. I rolled my eyes at the display. Lydia had failed to mention her arrogant, asshole boyfriend was going to be here as well. “Have you called Stiles?”

_He’s not answering. Scott’s never late. He’s usually here a little early or right on time._

“Maybe his mom wouldn’t let him. I mean, he’s grounded, too, isn’t he?”

 _His mom’s working tonight_. Lydia stopped making out with Jackson.

“Scott hasn’t shown up?” I shook my head. Jackson started kissing her neck. I swear all that was on his brain was lacrosse and getting laid. Lydia hopped off the bed, much to Jackson’s aggravation, and took the phone from me, conversing with Allison about Scott. She hung up and handed my phone back.

“We’re going to get Allison,” she announced.

“What?” Jackson asked. “Why?”

“So we can bring her here, stupid,” Jackson looked like he’d eaten something sour. I managed to keep from laughing by pure miracle. “Jackson, you’re driving.”

 

I was glad I was tiny. The backseat of Jackson’s Porsche was extremely small.

“Call Allison and tell her we’re coming to get her.” Jackson sighed and called Allison. The phone stopped ringing and Jackson didn’t even wait for the hello.

“Lydia says we’re coming to get you.” He had it on speaker. Allison sighed.

 _Please don’t. I’m sure he’s on his way. He’s only…._ she paused. _26 minutes late._

“You hear that?” Lydia said. “First it’s ‘He’s only 26 minutes late.’, a month later it’s ‘He only hits me when he’s drunk.’ Slippery slope, Allison. Slippery slope.” I couldn’t help but smile. We were approaching Allison’s house and I could see her standing at the end of her driveway, phone to her ear.

“We’re picking you up,” Jackson said.

_No._

“Too late.” She turned as Jackson pulled up. He rolled down his window as she hung up and walked up to the driver’s side. “Lydia gets what Lydia wants.” By the way, Lydia may act like a ditzy and dumb bimbo, but she is the smartest person in Beacon Hills. I’m pretty sure she’s a female Einstein. Allison chuckled at Jackson’s words. “Come on. Get in. We can stop by his place and see if he’s there,” Jackson unbuckled his seat belt as Allison’s phone chimed. Lydia leaned forward to look at Allison.

“Is that him with the best explanation ever of why he’s half a freaking hour late?” she asked. Allison looked confused.

“Not exactly.”

 

Jackson pulled up to the school. Stiles’ Jeep was sitting in front the parking lot. I looked around, almost expecting to see another car. But the parking lot was empty. Jackson got out of the car and let Allison out.

“Why are we at the school?” I asked. Trish would kill me if she knew I was here.

“All I got was a text from Scott telling me to meet him here,” Allison said as she got out of the car.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

“They lock the doors at night, you know,” Lydia said. Allison pointed at the school.

“That one’s open,” She started walking towards the school. Jackson followed her and I couldn’t hear their conversation.

“This is stupid,” I said, leaning back and putting my head back.

“I know,”

“If those two idiots broke into the school, why don’t we just leave them to get in trouble? We’re going to look like accomplices.” Jackson got back in the car as Allison walked into the building.

 

I was playing a game on my phone. We’d probably been waiting for about thirty minutes.

“Do you see that?” Jackson suddenly asked. I looked up.

“See what?” Lydia asked.

“The hood on that piece of crap Jeep looks crappier than usual.” I rolled my eyes, but saw what Jackson was talking about. A portion of the hood on Stiles’ Jeep looked like it was standing straight up. Jackson opened the door.

“Where are you going?” Lydia asked.

“To take a look. Stay here.”

“I’m not staying in the car.” I turned my game off.

“Just stay in the damn….”

“Do not leave us alone in the car!” I looked between Lydia and Jackson, not really understanding why Lydia was so freaked out about staying in the car.

“Fine. God, don’t have a meltdown.” Jackson let me out of the backseat, which I was glad of. I’m pretty sure my ass was about to fall asleep. The three of us walked towards the Jeep. The hood looked like it had been ripped open from the side. Inside the hood was four long grooves. Jackson ran his fingers down them, a look like he knew what it was.

“What the hell is that?” Jackson shook his head.

“Hmm. Look at that,” Lydia said. “It is indeed a piece of crap.” How could Lydia not see that? “Can we get Allison and leave now?”

“Yes, can we?” I agreed. I was a little freaked out looking at the damage on the Jeep. Jackson started to back away. Lydia looked at him.

“What are you doing?” Jackson didn’t answer, only turned and walked towards the door. “Are you getting Allison?”

“Hey, Jackson. Wait up.” I followed him.

“Jackson! Anna!” Lydia jogged after us. I was going to be in so much trouble if we got caught.

 

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Lydia said.

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” I said.

“No.” Jackson threw his head back and groaned.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Go find a bathroom,” I said. “I’ll look for Allison, Scott and Stiles.” They walked one way and I walked the other. I passed a classroom and glanced in. I stopped and then backed up. “What the hell?” A car battery was in the middle of the room, along with broken glass. I walked into the room and crouched down next to it. Then I realized that it was the battery to Stiles’ Jeep. That bad feeling I had earlier? It just intensified.

 

“Lydia? Jackson?” I found a bathroom and opened the door. “Lydia? Are you in here?” I heard a low growl and froze. I’m pretty sure my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I slowly turned around to see… I have no idea what I was looking at. It probably stood about seven feet tall and was covered with fur. It had bright red eyes. It took a step towards me. I took a step back. I backed away until I hit a wall. It reached towards me. Okay, I’m about to die. At school of all places. I closed my eyes and I felt the tear of fear roll down my cheek. Then felt something else on it. I opened my eyes to see the… animal… was stroking my cheek, wiping away the tear. Weird. Then it backed away, dropped down to all fours and took off down the hall. I was shaking like a leaf now. It let me go. Why did it let me go?


	8. It's Not Derek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna is trapped in the high school by a mysterious killer. Trish helps an injured Derek and vows to no longer stay out of the Alpha business

I found Jackson and Lydia. Or rather they found me. I hadn’t told them about the animal that was running around in here, only we needed to find Allison, Scott and Stiles and get out. We found them in the lobby.

“Finally,” Lydia said. “Can we go now?”

“Please, let’s go. Like right now.”

“You okay, Anna?” Stiles asked.

“No, I’m not okay!” Scott was looking at me with a concerned look on his face. Then we heard the thud above us. “What the hell was that?” We all looked up. It sounded like something was walking in the ceiling above us. Scott took Allison’s hand.

“Run!” He took off and the rest of us followed as something crashed through the ceiling. I looked back as we ran up a set of stairs and saw the animal I’d seen earlier. Stiles grabbed my hand and I squeezed it tight. We burst through the doors into the cafeteria. Scott immediately turned and slammed them shut, locking them. Stiles turned around, still holding my hand and looked at the windows. This was the worst place we could be.

“Help me get this in front of the door,” Scott said. Jackson immediately jumped in to help him.

“It’s not going to work!” I cried.

“Scott, wait. Not here,” Stiles said.

“Scott, what was that?” Allison asked. “What was that?”

“What came out of the ceiling?” Lydia was on the verge of panic.

“Will you just help me? The chairs! Stack the chairs!”

“Guys? Not going to help,” I said.

“Guys… can we wait a second?” Stiles and I both seemed to know that blocking the door was not going to keep that animal out. “You guys, listen to me….”

“Guys!” They were ignoring us “Wait!”

“Can we wait a second?”

“They’re not listening.”

“Guys. Stiles talking. Can we hang on one second here?”

“Hey!” I screamed. Everyone turned to us then.

“Okay. Nice work. Really beautiful job, everyone.” I pointed at the window. “Now, what shall we do with the 20 foot wall of windows?” Stiles gestured widely at the windows.

“Yeah. Lots of windows here. Tried telling you before you barricaded the freaking door!”

“Can somebody please explain to me what going on, because I’m freaking out here!” Allison said.

“You’re not the only one!”

“I would like to know why. Scott?” Scott was at a loss for words. He stepped away from the others and leaned over a table. I suspected he knew what was going on.

“Scott?” I asked. Scott looked like he was trying to come up with a good lie.

“Somebody killed the janitor,” Stiles said.

“What?” Lydia asked.

“Yeah. The janitor’s dead.” Scott looked like he was close to having a panic attack.

“What’s he talking about?” Allison asked. “Is this a joke?”

“What, who killed him?” Jackson asked.

“No, no, no, no,” Lydia said. “This was supposed to be over. The mountain lion killed….”

“No, don’t you get it?” Jackson snapped. “There wasn’t a mountain lion.” Did Jackson see it too?

“Who was it?” Allison asked. “What does he want? What’s happening?” Allison said the last sentence in a whisper. “Scott!”

“I… I don’t know! I just… If we go out there, he’s going to kill us.”

“Us?” Lydia was officially in panic mode. “He’s going to kill us?”

“Who?” Allison asked. “Who is it?” Stiles looked at Scott. Scott sighed.

“It’s Derek. It’s Derek Hale.” This time I looked at him. I knew that couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be true. I looked at Stiles. He had a look like he couldn’t believe the name that had just come out of Scott’s mouth.

“Derek killed the janitor?” Jackson asked.

“Are you sure?” Allison asked.

“I saw him.”

“The mountain lion….” Lydia was stuck on blaming a mountain lion.

“No, Derek killed them.”

“All of them?” Allison asked.

“Yeah, starting with his own sister.”

“No!” I said. “No, Derek didn’t kill his sister.”

“Yes, he did.”

“No. Derek would never kill his own sister. Trish said he was everything to her.”

“Well, your sister was wrong.”

I shook my head, knowing that it wasn’t Derek.

“Did he kill the bus driver?” Allison asked.

“And the guy in the video store. It’s been Derek the whole time. He’s in here with us.” Unless Derek could magically turn into a giant hairy thing, I knew it wasn’t Derek. “And if we don’t get out now… he’s going to kill us too.” Jackson turned to Stiles.

“Call the cops.”

“No,” Stiles deadpanned.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I mean no. You want to hear it in Spanish? No. Look Derek killed three people. We don’t know what he’s armed with.”

“Your dad is armed with an entire sheriff’s department. Call him!” Lydia pulled her phone out of her purse.

“I’m calling.”

“No, Lydia, will you hold on a second.” I grabbed his arm and Jackson pushed him back. Scott stepped forward.

“Hey.”

“Yes, we’re at Beacon Hills High School. We’re trapped and we need you to —.” There was a pause. “But….” Lydia looked down at her phone. “She hung up on me.”

“The police hung up on you?” Allison asked, unbelieving.

“She said they got a tip warning them that there was gonna be prank calls about a break-in at the high school. She said if I called again that they’re gonna trace it and have me arrested.”

“Then call again.”

“No, they won’t trace a cell,” Stiles said. “They’ll send a car to your house before they send anyone here.”

“Holy, shit,” I breathed. “I’m going to die at school.” I’d rather be arrested.

“Why does Derek want to kill us?” Allison asked. “Why is he killing anyone?”

“It’s not —.” Stiles took me by both of my shoulders.

“Anna, stop.” I didn’t understand why Scott was lying about Derek. Or why Stiles was going along with it. Everyone then looked at Scott.

“Why is everyone looking at me?”

“Is he the one that sent her the text?” Lydia asked.

“No,” I looked at him. “I mean, I don’t know.”

“Is he the one that called the police?”

“I don’t know!”

“Alright, why don’t we just back off the throttle here, yeah?” Stiles pulled Scott to the side and conversed a minute. I turned on my heel and stormed over to him, grabbing him by his jacket.

“We both know it wasn’t Derek,” I said in a low voice. “There’s an animal here. A big one. He’s the one killing people, isn’t he?” Stiles and Scott looked at one another before Scott slowly nodded. “If he’s the one killing people, then why did he let me go?”

“What?”

“He’s in the school. I came face to face with him and he let me go.”

“Why?”

“I was hoping you could come up with a plausible lie for that.”

“Okay, assheads!” Jackson interrupted. Who the hell was he calling an asshead? “New plan. Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?” He looked at everyone. Stiles still had that look that he didn’t want to do it.

“He’s right. Tell him the truth if you have to, just call him.”

“Just call him, Stiles,” I said. Stiles leaned close to Scott.

“I’m not watching my dad get eaten alive.” He took a step away. Jackson walked towards Stiles, reaching for his phone.

“Alright. Give me the phone.” Stiles spun around and slugged Jackson in the nose.

“Jackson!” Allison cried.

“Have you been taking lessons from my sister?” Trish had a hard right hook. I’d seen her use it several times. Scott pushed Stiles back. And I was hoping this wasn’t going to turn into a free for all. “More important things here. Stiles, just call your dad!”

“Fine!” Stiles dialed his dad. “Dad, hey it’s me. And it’s your voicemail,” Of course it was. “Look, I need you to call me back now. Like right now.” The animal slammed against the door.

“Oh, God!” The animal continued to slam against the door.

“We’re at the school, okay? We’re at the school.”

“Oh, God!” Lydia cried. “Oh, my God!”

“The kitchen,” Stiles said. “The door out of the kitchen leads to the stairwell.”

“Which only goes up,” Scott countered.

“Up is better than here.” The barricade started moving and we took off towards the kitchen.

 

**TRISH**

 

Derek wanted me to stay out of all this Alpha business. To protect me, he claimed. Because Laura and Josh wouldn’t want me involved. I really wasn’t paying attention to the TV show that was on, so I turned it off. It was getting late. I went into the kitchen and checked the dishwasher, just to have something to do and to take my mind off current events. And the worry that Derek was either going to get hurt or killed going after this Alpha. I didn’t know if I could handle both Laura and Derek’s deaths within months of each other. I emptied the dishwasher and put the dishes away. The house was really quiet tonight without Anna. I hadn’t had the house to myself in a long time. I decided I didn’t like the quiet. Then someone rang the doorbell. My brows knit together. Who could be at my door at this hour? The doorbell rang again and I approached the door. My common sense was screaming at me not to open the door, but my gut told me I should. I listened to my gut. I opened the door to see Derek leaning against the door frame.

“Trish,” he whispered before he fell into my foyer.

“Oh, my God! Derek!” His chin, throat and shirt were covered in blood. I pulled him inside and kicked the door shut with my foot. He was hurt bad. I helped him into a sitting position. “What happened?”

“The Alpha,” he breathed. “Ambushed me. Tried to. Trap him.” He needed to heal. How he had the strength to escape and drive to my house was beyond me.

“Come on, Derek. Get up.” I helped him to his feet and draped his arm over my shoulder. “I’m going to help you with your healing process.” I helped him to the stairs leading to the basement. “Please don’t fall down the stairs.” He steadied himself with the stair rail and we slowly made our way downstairs. We didn’t use the basement much. There was a pool table, some chairs, an old couch, a TV, a couple of game consoles and a stereo, but that was about it. I made a beeline to the back of the basement and unloaded Derek into a chair. I went to the wall and held up my three middle fingers. I touched the wall in three different places, doing this three times in different order each time. A previously hidden door slid open, revealing a secret room in the basement. I went and retrieved Derek and went in it. Two walls of the room held jars full of every herb known to man along with two beds and another wall held a bookshelf full of books. I laid Derek down on one of the beds, the door sliding shut once we were inside.

 

Yeah, I can explain. I _should_ explain myself. I have a major connection to the supernatural. And not just because I am fully aware that werewolves exist. Remember when I said that my family has a connection to the supernatural? Well, this is it. I should also come clean. I’m not a normal human. Actually, technically, I’m not even human. In fact, I’m a Druid. As in old pagan religion that was very close to the earth. As in the Gaelic word for “wise oak”. But I’m also more than just a Druid. I also have the potential to be an Emissary. Emissaries are pretty much the advisors and the connection that a wolf pack has to the outside world. The middle man, so to speak. Oh and I’m sure you’re wondering why I keep insisting that I can defend myself from an Alpha and then said I couldn’t do it with so many witnesses. Because I can use magic. Unfortunately, I do not have the forte to heal. But what I do have is herbs that will help Derek heal the wounds from an Alpha. I helped Derek sit up again and relieved him of his jacket and shirt. He had deep wounds in his back, just beneath the triskilion. Wounds from someone stabbing their claws deep into Derek’s back.

“You’re such a freaking idiot,” I said. “You can’t challenge an Alpha on your own.” I went to the jars and retrieved what I needed. I mixed them together and made a liquid concoction. I helped Derek sit up again. “Drink this. And don’t spit it out. It’ll help with your healing.” Thankfully, he actually did what he was told.

“That tastes horrible.”

“It’s supposed to.” I grabbed a towel and started cleaning the blood off of him.

“Scott and Stiles are at the school.”

“What are they doing at the school?”

“Scott was calling the Alpha. I had the vet in my car.”

“Deaton? Why was Deaton in your car?”

“He’s the Alpha.”

“Deaton?” I know the amusement showed in my voice. “Dr. Alan Deaton?”

“He disappeared and a few minutes later, he attacks me.” I couldn’t help it. I started laughing. And Derek started glaring. “I don’t see how that’s funny.”

“Alan isn’t the Alpha. Hell, he’s no more a werewolf than I am.”

“Then explain why he lied about the spiral in the deer.” I knew what the spiral meant. Someone wanted revenge.

“He was protecting you. He was trying to protect you from the Alpha. Why do you think Laura came back? She was looking for whoever did that so she could stop them. Lay down and rest. Hide and heal here. No one knows about this room and only I or another werewolf can get in or out. I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.” I stood and went to a triskilion that was carved into the wall. In the middle of it was a symbol I can’t accurately describe. Don’t ask me why my basement had a secret room with Hale family symbols in it. Mom knew about it and had showed me when my powers first started to manifest, but I really knew nothing about the room. Only that it was coming in handy right now. I tapped the same combination on the spirals of the triskilion and the door opened, I stepped out and released my magic. First I was going to have to hide Derek’s car in my garage. Then I was going to have to explain to Anna where the second car came from.

 

After parking the black Camaro in the garage next to my Renegade, my phone rang. I saw that it was Anna.

“Anna?”

_Come pick me up, sissy._

“What’s wrong?”

 _Just come pick me up. I’m at the school._ My heart almost stopped.

“Why… why are you at the school?”

 _I’ll tell you in the car._ I immediately jumped into my car and sped off towards the school. What was Anna doing at the school? She was supposed to have been at Lydia’s. Police cars and a couple of ambulances were in the parking lot. I saw Stiles’ Jeep and Jackson’s Porsche. Lydia was leaning into Jackson’s chest and Jackson had his arms around her, but had a look like he wished he was somewhere else. The two were leaning on the Porsche. Allison and Anna were standing together. I jumped out of the car as Stiles and Scott came out of the building with Stilinski. Stilinski wasn’t too happy.

“Anna!”

“Trish!” Anna ran and collided with me, hugging me tightly. “I’m so sorry! We went to Allison’s because Scott didn’t show up and then he sent a text for her to meet him here and it turned out that he didn’t send it,” Her words tumbled out. “I know we shouldn’t have gone inside but we had to find Scott and Stiles.” She buried her face into my chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Shh, it’s okay,” I soothed. “It’s okay.” I didn’t care that she broke into the school. How many times did I do that when I went here? I really couldn’t be mad at her for doing the exact same thing as me. I was just relieved that she was alive.

“Well, we survived, dude,” I heard Stiles say. “You know. We outlasted the Alpha.” I glanced over at him and Scott. “It’s still good, right? Being alive?”

“When we were in the chemistry room, he walked right by us. You don’t think that he heard us?” Anna was still hugging me tightly as I eavesdropped on the two friends. Wow. I was doing a lot of that lately. “You don’t think he knew exactly where we were?”

“Well, then how come we’re still alive?”

“He wants me in his pack,” Scott sighed. “But I think first, I have to get rid of my old pack.”

“Anna, go wait in the car. I have to talk to the sheriff, okay?” Anna nodded and headed towards the car.

“What do you mean? What old pack?”

“Allison. Anna. Jackson. Lydia. You.”

“The Alpha doesn’t want to kill us,”

Scott sighed.

“He wants me to do it.” He turned away and saw that I was watching him. I turned away then and headed towards my car.

 

Anna watched the scenery go by, not saying a word.

“Anna, are you okay?”

“No. I’m not,” she answered. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why Scott lied to everyone. I know he knows that it was an animal chasing us around the school and killed all those people, not Derek.”

“Wait, what?” I said. “Scott said it was Derek!?” Why that little shit!

“Yeah. I don’t know why. I know he knows it wasn’t Derek. I know it wasn’t Derek. He said he’d killed everyone starting with his sister. Derek would never have killed his own sister.” It was as if a faucet had turned on and Anna’s words were spilling out of her mouth. “It had to be that animal. I know it was that animal.”

“What animal?”

“I saw it, Trish. It was at the school.” We were stopped at a red light and my heart was racing. “I looked into its eyes.” I was glad it was dark or Anna would have seen me go pale. My heart was in my throat.

“You saw it face to face?”

“As far as I am from you. It’s not a mountain lion. Its eyes were… they were almost human, but they were bright red. Like a demon’s eyes. Trish, what’s wrong?” I’m pretty sure I was about to have a panic attack. A horn honked behind us and I jumped, then realized the light was green. “You know what it is, don’t you?” My mouth worked.

“I….”

“Why didn’t it kill me?”

“I don’t know.” We finally pulled up to our house and I pulled into the garage, remembering too late that Derek’s Camaro was in it.

“When did we get a Camaro?”

“Um… today?”

“Seriously, whose Camaro is that?”

“My boyfriend’s?”

“You don’t have a boyfriend.” Damn it. She caught me.

“I might….” Anna turned to me.

“Trish, I want the truth,”

I sighed.

“I’ll tell you why there’s a Camaro in our garage, if you promise not to tell anyone. Especially after what you told me tonight.” Anna nodded. “It’s Derek’s.”

“Derek’s here!?” I held a hand up.

“Shh.”

“If the cops find out….”

“They won’t find him as long as nobody sees his car.”

“Trish!” Anna stopped. “What’s really going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“A giant animal that can walk on two legs was chasing us through the school tonight. It has one hell of a roar and for some reason, it didn’t kill me when I came face to face with it. I want to know what’s really going on!”

I sighed, defeated. I couldn’t keep lying to Anna.

“I was really hoping to protect you from this,” I said. “At least for a little while longer.”

“What are you talking about?” I bit my lip.

“You know all the animal attacks that have been going on in Beacon Hills for years?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re not really animals. Not true animals,” I opened my door. “I’ll tell you inside.”


	9. Full Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish finally shares the secret of Beacon Hills with Anna. Scott struggles to control himself on the full moon

I set the cup of tea down in front of Anna. It had been a gift from Talia and another Alpha. It smelled terrible, but tasted pretty decent. And Anna seemed to like it. I saved it for special occasions, as I could no longer get the tea and I didn’t even know what it was called. But I think this counted as special occasion. Anna took a sip and waited.

“Anna, Beacon Hills isn’t a normal town. All those fairy tales and stories you heard growing up are real.”

“Trish,” Anna sighed.

“That animal is a werewolf. An Alpha. He’s the one that’s been killing people. Not Derek. And by the way, you let me know once Scott gets his phone back. I have a bone to pick with him.”

“Werewolf? Like turn by the light of the full moon werewolf?”

“Yep.”

“What are you smoking?”

“I know I can’t prove it to you, sweetheart, but you have to believe me. I’ve known about this world since I was 13. I’ve known plenty of werewolves. I still know some. I’ve been helping a pair of Betas, even though one is insistent that I stay out of all this Alpha business. But after what happened tonight. I can’t stay out of this. Not anymore.”

“Because of what happened at the school.”

“And the fact that the Alpha attacked one of the Betas.”

“Derek. He’s one of the Betas, isn’t he? He came here for help.”

I sighed.

“Yes, Anna. Derek is one of the Betas. The Alpha attacked him and he came here for help.”

“Why you? Why not the hospital?”

“Because werewolves don’t go to hospitals. They’ll have to think of something to explain their quick healing. So they go to people like me. Medical professionals that are aware of Beacon Hills’ second nature.” I wasn’t ready for Anna to know I was a Druid, let alone a magic welding one.

“But why was the Alpha trying to kill us?”

“I really don’t know. Just like I don’t know who the Alpha is. Anna, our survival depends on secrecy. There are Hunters out there. People that kill werewolves. And I’m sure a few will take out their friends just to get to the wolves. Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even Lydia or Allison.” _Especially not Allison._ I thought.

“Okay. I won’t.”

 

“What the hell is wrong with you!?” I yelled through the phone. “Why would you blame Derek after him trying to teach you!?”

_Derek’s dead, Trish! The Alpha sank his claws into his back and killed him!_

“And you’re positive of this?” I wasn’t about to tell him that Derek was currently in my basement, still healing from said wound.

_He had blood coming out of his mouth. He’s dead._

“Did you find the body?”

_No, I think the Alpha took it._

“Now, why would the Alpha take his body?”

_I don’t know!_

“Scott, why did you tell your friends and the cops that Derek killed all those people?”

_They kept asking questions. They kept asking who it was. I couldn’t just say it was the Alpha._

“So you said the first name that popped in your head. Which happened to be Derek?”

_I panicked._

“I can’t believe you!”

_You haven’t been helping!_

“No, I haven’t, but after almost losing my sister to the Alpha just because she’s in your so called pack, I’m not standing aside anymore!”

_Yeah, it took Derek dying and Anna almost dying for you to get off your ass and decide to help us._

“Excuse me? Do you even remember what it’s like to be normal?” Scott didn’t answer and I looked down at my phone to see he’d hung up on me. That little shit.

“That sounded like that went well,” Anna said, plopping down into the kitchen chair with a bowl of ice cream. I growled in frustration and dropped the phone on the table before sitting down and dropping my head into my arms. The school had been closed ever since the incident with the Alpha and there was a state wide manhunt going on for Derek. I groaned. The Alpha sounded like he was getting desperate in forcing Scott to join his pack.

“Allison broke up with him that night,” Anna said. “Can we go see Peter today?” I looked up and gave a small laugh.

“Yeah, we can go see Peter today,”

 

The full moon was tonight. I was worried. About the Alpha finding Scott. About Scott losing control. About Derek getting caught. About Anna getting caught up in all this. In a way I was glad I had to work tonight. Full moons kept the ER busy. And a busy Trish meant that I would not be worrying about the supernatural tonight. Anna was supposed to stay home tonight, Lydia was going to give her a ride home, since Allison’s parents seemed to have her on lock down since the incident at the school. Derek was still in my basement, but said he would be leaving shortly after dark. I’d gotten used to the Camaro being in the garage. I was sure Derek would be looking for the Alpha tonight. Stilinski had already questioned me about Derek. Is it sad to admit that I’m really good at faking shock? Yes? I thought so. A month ago, my life was fairly normal. Now I’m lying to the cops and harboring fugitives. What the hell is wrong with me? I think I really need to visit the Psych ward and have my mental heath evaluated… Anna hopped into the passenger side as I turned on the car

 _It’s a beautiful Monday morning!_ The announcer said. _Beacon Hills High School is back open after being closed Thursday and Friday. Police search continues for alleged killer Derek Hale—_ Anna switched the channel.

“I hate him for that,” she said, crossing her arms. I sighed.

“I know. I’m pretty pissed off at him too.” We rode in silence. Anna had a government test today and she was nervous about it. “Big test today, right?”

“Yeah….”

“You’ll ace it.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so.” I pulled up in front of the school behind a red Tahoe as Allison hopped out of it. “Good luck, Anna.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you tonight, Trish.” She hopped out of the car and jogged after Allison. The Argents sat for a few more minutes before driving off and I headed home. I had the late shift tonight with Melissa. I loved working with Melissa. And she had no clue about her son’s duel nature. She actually thought he was going through a rebellious phase with Stiles. I hoped she would be safer not knowing, but look at Anna, Lydia and Jackson. They were almost killed by the Alpha. Or Scott, from what Stiles told me. It wasn’t just the police that Derek had to avoid. I knew the Hunters would be out as well, hunting both of them and any other uncontrollable werewolf they could find.

 

“You okay, Melissa?” I asked. She looked down and if she said everything was fine I was going to call bullshit.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I’m worried about Scott.” She unscrewed the water bottle and took a drink. “He doesn’t talk to me much anymore. We used to be really close, but now I feel like we’re drifting apart. His grades are falling, he’s in and out of the house at all hours of the night. I don’t know what to do.” She looked at me. “Have you had the same problem with Anna?”

“We had a rough spot after Mom died, but we seem to be going back to being sisters. I think with whatever happened at the school, me and Anna are closer now.”

“Do you think it’s because of his father?” I had a nonexistent relationship with my own sperm donor. I knew exactly how Scott felt.

“I can’t tell you that, Melissa. Our dad walked out on us when Anna was barely a year old, so I have the same kind of relationship with my dad that Scott has with his. With all that’s happened lately, maybe he’s just struggling with where he fits in everything.”

“Maybe you’re right.” My phone rang.

“Speaking of Anna.”

Melissa chuckled.

“Hello?”

_Scott got out._

“What are you talking about?”

_Stiles and I tried to chain him in his room and he got out._

“You did what!?” _Be right back._ I mouthed at Melissa and made a beeline for the exit.

_This is only Scott’s second full moon and he’s been acting weird all day._

“Well, duh, Anna,” I glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, but lowered my voice anyway. “It’s the full freaking moon,”

_We don’t know where he could have gone. He’s been pretty aggressive all day. He made out with Lydia after Stiles asked him to see if she liked him and then he bloodied Danny’s nose during practice._

“Wait. Who’s Danny?”

 _The goalie. And Jackson’s best friend. He has no control, Trish! He could kill someone! The Hunters could kill him!_ I knew Derek wasn’t at the house, but I needed his help in this. Time to return a favor.

“I’m going to call someone I know can help.”

_We’re out looking for him._

“We? Who’s we? Where are you?”

 _I’m with Stiles. Trish, I’ll call you back._ I swear she was as hardheaded as me. I dialed Derek’s number.

_Trish, I can’t talk right—_

“You have to find Scott, right freaking now,” I didn’t even let him finish his sentence. “Stiles and Anna tried to lock him up and he broke free and escaped.” I heard Derek curse over the phone.

 _I’ll find him. Hopefully, it’ll be before he kills someone._ He hung up and I composed myself before walking back to the table I was sharing with Melissa.

“Everything alright?”

I smiled.

“Everything’s fine. Anna went over to Stiles’ when she was supposed to be at home.”

“I take she was grounded, too.”

“Yeah,” I lied. She wasn’t grounded. I just didn’t want her running around Beacon Hills at night during a full moon.

 

I leaned over the restroom sink and sighed. I was exhausted. Seemed like everyone and their brother were breaking bones or beating the crap out of each other tonight. My phone vibrated and I pulled it out of my pocket.

 _I found him._ Derek didn’t even wait for me to say anything. _He almost attacked Allison and Jackson in a car. We had to grapple before he regained control. I’m talking him home now._ I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank God. You don’t think he killed anyone before you found him, do you?”

 _He still has golden eyes_. That was enough of an answer for me. Golden eyes meant he didn’t kill anyone. _Have you had anyone come to the ER with suspicious wounds?_

“Aside from the completely sober girl with her arm broken in two places, a broken nose and a black eye who insisted she fell down the stairs because she was drunk? Nope.” I could hear Derek roll his eyes.

_I was trying to track him when you called. I couldn’t pick up his scent._

“I’m sorry. I—”

 _We have to protect Scott as much as finding out who the Alpha is._ I didn’t even protest the “we” in his statement. I’d told him right after the Alpha attacked him that I wasn’t going to stay out of this anymore. He’d have to kill me if he wanted me to stay out of it.

“We have to protect all of them. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.” I called Anna.

_Hello?_

“He found Scott. Everything’s okay.” I wasn’t going to mention Derek’s name, not in the bathroom and when every cop in Beacon Hills knew that I knew the alleged killer. And I really didn’t trust anyone. I trusted Melissa, but in this? No one could be trusted.

 _The cops found two more bodies in the park._ I could hear police radio chatter in the background and Stiles and his dad talking. _We came here to see if Scott might have been here and when we saw the cops, Stiles freaked out. They don’t know who they are yet, but one was ripped to shreds and the other was burned._

“Burned?”

_He was found head first in a burn barrel._

“Do you need me to come pick you up?”

_No, Stiles is going to take me back home. I love you, Trish._

“I love you, too.” I hung up and sighed. How were we going to do this? How were we ever going to find out who the Alpha was if we had to babysit Scott on full moons? I looked at my phone then dialed the number to that trusted friend I mentioned before.

_Hello?_

“Alan, I need your help.”


	10. The Alpha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna helps Derek, Scott and Stiles with clues to the Alpha's identity. Trish, Stiles and Derek come face to face with the Alpha, causing Trish to use her power to protect the others.

**ANNA**

 

 _Trish is seriously going to kill me._ I was currently in the backseat of Derek’s Camaro. Only Derek wasn’t the one driving. Actually, I have no idea where Derek was. Scott and Stiles were in the front seat. _If the Hunters don’t kill me first_. Scott was shifting gears and going as fast as he dared. I looked behind us, a green Kia Soul was chasing us and much too close to our rear end than I liked.

“Faster?” Scott asked.

“Um, Scott. The faster the better.” Ever since I practically had to drag the truth out of my very reluctant to share sister, Scott, Stiles and I seemed to be closer now. My sister apparently had a secret room in our basement that she hid Derek in for a few days and Derek had heard the entire conversation we had about werewolves being real. I liked Derek, even if he was a bit standoffish. He wasn’t exactly patient either, but I could see that Trish cared about him and treated him like family. I knew Laura was her best friend and that she had dated a Hale before the fire. Laura used to come over all the time. I liked her and she was nice to me and helped me with my homework. I actually missed her. And I don’t think she or Trish would approve of me being in the backseat of a speeding car being chased by Hunters.

“What she said.” I turned back around. The Soul was closer now. All I could think of was how Derek would also kill us if whoever was driving the Soul hit his Camaro.

“I know this thing can go faster!” Stiles looked behind us.

“Hey, Scott, I don’t think you’re grasping the concept of the car chase here.”

“If I go any faster, I’ll kill us.”

“Well, if you don’t go faster, _they’re_ going to kill us!”

“I’d rather they not kill us,” I said. “I’d rather Trish do that for them.” Scott shifted gears again. “Um, guys….” Stiles looked back.

“They’re gone.”

“Where did they go?” I asked. I heard a beep and faced forward.

 _All units, suspect is on foot heading into the iron works._ Stilinski said over the radio.

“By suspect is he talking about Derek?” I asked.

“More than likely,” Stiles answered. I leaned forward.

“Scott, step on it,”

 

Scott did step on it and we raced into the iron works. Derek was cowered behind a forklift.

“Shit! It’s Allison’s dad!” Scott slammed on the breaks and Stiles threw open the door.

“Get in!” He climbed into the back with me. Derek glanced up at Mr. Argent as he pulled out what I’m pretty sure was an automatic rifle.

“Get in now!” I screamed. Derek darted forward and flew into the car as Argent fired. Scott squealed the tires as he stepped on the gas and Derek shut the door.

“What part of laying low don’t you understand!?” Scott cried.

“Damn it, I had him!” Derek said.

“Who? The Alpha?” Stiles asked.

“No, Bigfoot,” I said drily. Derek wasn’t in the mood for sarcasm tonight it seemed.

“Yes! He was right in front of me and the freaking police showed up!”

“Oh, hey, their just doing their jobs….” Derek and I both gave Stiles dirty looks.

“Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state.” He looked at Scott as he said that.

“Wonder who that could have been.”

“Can we seriously get past that?” Scott said. “I made a dumbass mistake. I get it. You two and Trish can stop constantly reminding me of that!”

“Oh, I’m going to keep reminding your dumb ass.”

“Alright!” Stiles yelled. “How did you find him?” Derek didn’t say anything, just looked at the three of us.

“Can you try to trust us for half a second?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, all three of us,” Stiles said. Derek glared at Stiles and then pointed at me.

“Her, I trust. You not so much.” I noticed he was looking at Stiles as he said that.

“Or just her and Scott. I’ll be back here.” Stiles leaned back and I leaned forward.

“How did you find him?” I repeated. I was sure Derek only trusted me because of Trish.

“Look, the last time I talked to my sister, she was close to figuring something out. She found two things. The first was a guy named Harris.” Stiles leaned forward.

“Our chemistry teacher?” I smacked Stiles for getting in my personal space.

“I knew he was evil,” I said. “What does Satan reincarnate have to do with the Alpha?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“And the second?” Derek pulled out a folded piece of paper from inside his black leather jacket. I swear he was addicted to black leather jackets. I always saw him wearing one. He unfolded the paper.

“Some kind of symbol.” I pushed Stiles aside so I could see. “What the hell are you two doing back there?”

“I’ve seen this before,” I said as Scott sighed and made several facial expressions.

“What?” He looked at Scott. “You know what this is?”

“I’ve seen it on a necklace,” he said. Derek was looking at him expectantly.

“Allison’s necklace,” I said. Stiles was back between Derek and I. Derek placed his hand on Stiles’ face and shoved him back.

“Hey!” He handed me the paper.

“Give this to Trish. See if she can interpret any of the symbols or knows someone who can.” I took the paper.

“Please?” He gave me a look and I grinned.

“You are definitely a Roberts.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“And you are definitely Trish’s sister.” Scott shifted gears and sped off into the night.

 

**TRISH**

 

I studied the small square of paper.

“Someone is a really good artist,” I said. “When did you get this?”

“Last night from Derek,” I looked up at my younger sister.

“From Derek?”

“In his car. While I was in the backseat.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“Why were you in the backseat of Derek’s car?”

“Saving his ass from Hunters.” I looked at her fully.

“You were what!? Anna!”

“They would have killed him!”

“Were you seen?”

“I don’t think so. Derek’s windows are tinted.”

“Of course they are,” I muttered.

“I was with Scott and Stiles.”

“I thought you were at Lydia’s.”

“About that….”

“Anna, if you’re going to go traipsing around Beacon Hills pissing off Hunters, let me know first.”

“You’re not mad?”

I chuckled.

“You’re just like me. I can’t be mad at you.” Lydia walked through the door just then. “Good morning, Lydia,” I said.

“Hello, Trish. Ready to go, Anna?”

“Yeah. Let me grab my bag.” I grabbed my purse, slipping the slip of paper with the Argent symbol into it. “Bye, Trish.” Anna waved.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Anna giggled and she and her friend walked out of the house and I headed to work.

 

I was filling out paperwork and Melissa was working on her computer. I glanced up as a teenager leaned against the desk.

“Hi,” Melissa greeted.

“Hey,” Jackson returned the greeting. “Would you mind if I look something up on your computer real quick?”

“I bet a handsome face like that doesn’t hear ‘no’ very often.” I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Jackson chuckled. “Aren’t you one of Scott’s friends?”

“Yeah. Good friends actually.”

“Yeah?” I looked up, having the feeling that he was up to something. According to Anna, Jackson hated Scott. And Anna didn’t like Jackson at all.

“Mm-hmm.” Melissa looked around and I pretended not to notice Jackson standing there, twirling my pen and pretending to study the papers in front of me. “Just be quick, okay?” Melissa got up and went to another desk and Jackson sat down at the computer and started typing. He read something and then started chuckling. A minute later, he walked off and Melissa returned to the computer. I wondered what he had found so funny.

 

“I’m going to be at the game late, Anna,” I said over the phone. “I won’t get off until after the game’s already started.”

_It’s okay. I’m hanging out with Lydia and Allison before the game. I’ll go with them._

“Great. I’ll see you at the game.” I hung up. I was actually in the parking lot at this moment with my good friend, Alan Deaton. Yes, the same Alan Deaton that Derek had accused of being the Alpha. Alan _did_ know about his world like I did and had even been in it longer, but he was no werewolf. I handed him the drawing.

“Impressive artist skill.”

“Derek gave this to Anna the other night. The last time he spoke to Laura, she mentioned this symbol and Adrian Harris. She thought he may have known something. I talked to Derek and he said he found that among her things. He went to talk to Harris, but caught the Alpha confronting him and he ended up saving Harris.”

“Interesting,” Alan pointed to the wolf in the middle. “That is Le Bete de Gevaudan. Are you familiar with the tale?” I was very familiar with the story.

“The Beast of Gevaudan. An Alpha that terrorized the French countryside until the first of the Argent family of Hunters killed it. It was when the Argents first started following the Code.”

“‘We hunt those that hunt us’. Exactly. This is an Argent family heirloom, passed down generation to generation.”

“Anna said that it had been passed to Allison.”

“Then it is only a matter of time before Allison starts Hunting,” I took the drawing from Alan.

“But what is so important about this symbol? And what’s Harris’ connection?” I paused. “Wasn’t the Hale fire ruled an accident. That it was an electrical short that caused the fire?”

“I believe so.”

“Could a chemistry teacher know how to set a fire and make it look like an electrical short?”

“That _is_ possible.”

“What if that’s why the Alpha went after Harris? Because he knew that the fire was really arson.” I looked at the drawing. “That he told an Argent how to kill the Hales.”

 

“You want me to what?” I asked.

 _Meet us at Beacons Crossing._ Derek said.

“Why am I meeting you at Beacons Crossing?”

_The text that Scott supposedly sent to Allison was sent using Melissa’s login and password._

“That’s impossible,”

_Stiles said the same thing. It means the Alpha works at the hospital or Melissa sent the text. I’m hoping maybe Peter could help us._

“I know Melissa didn’t send it,” I paused realizing what Derek had just said. “You’re catatonic, coma uncle? How in holy hell is he going to help?”

_I don’t know, use your powers on him._

“Use my…. Are you freaking kidding me? You know it doesn’t work that way.”

_I can’t go in without getting caught and arrested for something I didn’t do. I need you and Stiles to go in and talk to him. You know what to ask._

“Fine! I’ll meet you there,” I hung up. Why the hell was I doing this? And who would make it look like Melissa was the Alpha? Or make it look like she was helping the Alpha.

 

Stiles’ Jeep was already in the parking lot when I pulled up, Derek in the passenger seat. He had Stiles by the wrist talking into Stiles’ phone. I shook my head and approached Stiles’ open window.

 _No, no, the thing’s flat._ Scott’s voice was on the other end. Stiles was mouthing “Ow” over and over, no doubt Derek’s grip a little tighter than he, hopefully, intended. _And no it doesn’t open. There’s nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing. And where are you? You’re supposed to be here. Ahh!_

 _Where the hell is Bilinski?_ I heard Coach’s voice in the background. _Huh?_

“Who the hell is Bilinski?” I asked. Stiles jumped, having not seen or heard me approach. He them motioned to himself and Derek let go of Stiles’ wrist.

_Man, you’re not going to play if you’re not here to start._

“I know. Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him… Tell him I’ll be there. I’ll just be a little bit late, okay?”

_Fine._

“Alright. Thanks,” Stiles hung up.

“What in hell are you two up to now?” I asked.

“You’re not gonna make it,” Derek said.

“I know.”

“Wait, you’re supposed to be playing?”

“Yeah.”

“And you didn’t tell him about his mom, either.”

“We should wait until we make sure it is Melissa,” I countered. Stiles sighed.

“Once we find out the truth, _I’ll_ tell him.”

“By the way, one more thing.”

“Yeah?” Derek slammed Stiles’ head into his steering wheel. I held my hands out, a “Seriously?” look on my face.

“Derek!”

“Oh, God!” Stiles held his face. “What the hell was —”

Derek pointed at him.

“You know what that was for,” He pointed at the long term care building. “Go,” I didn’t know what the hell that was for. I felt very out of the loop there. “Go!” Stiles got out of the car, giving Derek a dirty look. I sighed and shook my head.

“What did you do?”

“Used him to make a gay friend trace that text.”

“Was shirtlessness involved?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you deserved that.” Stiles gave _me_ a dirty look then.

 

**ANNA**

 

I didn’t see Stiles anywhere and I bit my lip. Where was he? Lydia had dropped me off at the game, but said she really didn’t want to watch tonight. Jackson had dumped her earlier that day at school and she seemed to be really down about it. I knew that Lydia didn’t want to watch Jackson. I was sitting behind the Argents. Allison was sitting on the end of the row and her father and aunt were sitting next to her. So behind was the best place. When I saw Mr. Argent, all I could see was him shooting at Derek. I didn’t know Kate at all, but if she was a Hunter too, I didn’t want to. Jackson was sitting next to Scott. Stiles had told me that Jackson had figured out somehow that Scott was a werewolf and wanted to be one, too. Just what we needed. An arrogant, asshole human to become an arrogant, asshole werewolf. I already had enough werewolves in my life as it was. I had a bad feeling that if Jackson was turned, he would end up spilling the beans and putting everyone in danger. The players huddled and Allison leaned over to her aunt.

“That one. That’s Jackson.”

“Holy hotness,” Kate responded. “Oh, if I was in high school again… Maybe just a substitute teacher.” I gave the back of Kate’s head an odd look. What the hell is wrong with her? I wondered.

“You are sick,” Allison said with a laugh. Kate chuckled.

“You should be all over that.” I rolled my eyes. She then leaned over to her brother. “Chris,” she whispered. “You remember how we were talking about a second Beta?” My attention was now completely focused on Kate. “A younger one?”

“Yes.”

“Can you get turned by a scratch?”

“If the claws go deep enough. Maybe.”

“Wonder how deep those went.” I looked over at the lacrosse players. They’d seen the scabs from where Derek had accidentally dug his claws into Jackson when he was poisoned by rare wolfsbane. Trish had told me about that and Scott had explained Jackson’s wounds. Scott looked almost panicked and I knew he’d heard the whole thing.

“We are lacrosse!” The players screamed. Scott and I made eye contact as the players took the field. This just got more complicated.

 

**TRISH**

 

Stiles and I walked through Beacons Crossing. Since I was still in my scrubs, I was sure I wouldn’t get a second glance, but my hackles had risen.

“Something’s not right,” I said. The halls were completely empty and there was no one in reception, which never happened. Stiles pulled out his phone.

“There’s no one here,” he said. I didn’t even see Jennifer. And she always hovered around Peter’s room. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The last time I had this feeling was two days before our mother told Anna and I she had stage 4 cancer. Stiles took a step forward as he listened to what Derek was saying. I grabbed the back of his jacket to stop him.

“I’m going first,” I said, actually grasping the magic I harnessed. I stepped into Peter’s room, expecting Jennifer to be in there with him. But the room was empty. And no, I don’t mean empty except for Peter, I mean completely empty. Those hackles? They’re on Def Con 7. There was no sign of Peter except for his empty wheelchair. “Stiles,” I whispered. Stiles entered the room after me.

“Yeah, well, he’s not here either.” I took a step back, realizing something.

“We have to go,” I said, urgently.

“He’s not here. He’s gone, Derek.” I backed out of the room. Then I heard Derek yelling over the phone.

 _Stiles, you and Trish get out of there right now! It’s him! He’s the Alpha! Get out!_ I turned and gasped, coming face to face with Peter leaning against the wall. I instinctively pushed Stiles behind me.

“You must be Stiles,” he said. I hadn’t heard his voice in six years. But I really couldn’t be happy at that moment. I was face to face with the werewolf that had killed Laura and stole her Alpha spark. “Hello, Trish.” The scars still covered half his face and I realized he’d kept himself from healing to continue the ruse of being the catatonic burn victim.

“Run,” I told Stiles, keeping eye contact with Peter and slowly backing away. He started to when I heard Jennifer’s voice.

“What are you doing here?” I turned. “Visiting hours are over.”

“It was you,” I said, feeling betrayed. “It was you who sent the text!”

“Very clever, Trish.”

“You’re helping him!?” Stiles looked between the two, his mouth working. Peter pushed off the wall. Jennifer only gave a smile.

“Oh, my God,” Stiles finally found his voice. “I’m gonna die.”

“No, you’re not.” I went into a defensive stance, fully grasping my power. I looked at Jennifer and she took a step back, a look of surprise on her face. Stiles’ mouth hung open. I looked at Peter.

“That’s new.”

“I’ve learned a few new tricks in the past few years.” And another explanation is in order. I don’t use my powers all the time. I could be considered a Druid Emissary, but I am also something else. I am an Eamonn, or protector, as well. And when I use my magic at a certain level, my eyes change color, much like the wolves do when they shift or use their wolf vision. The three of them were seeing them change from blue/green to bright purple. “Stiles, run!” I heard someone fall and I looked back towards Jennifer, who was now on the floor with a bloody nose and very unconscious. Derek was standing where she had been. He gave me a puzzled look before turning his attention to Peter. Yeah, Derek didn’t know my eyes changed now, although he was aware of my magical ability.

“That’s not nice,” Peter said.

“She’s my nurse.”

“She’s a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way.”

“Oh, damn,” Stiles said before dropping. I dived forward, pulling Stiles into a room. I crouched and held onto the door frame, Stiles behind me, ready to run.

“You think I killed Laura on purpose?” Peter started to walk towards Derek. “One of my own family?” Derek roared, his eyes glowing bright blue and fangs extending before using the wall to launch at Peter. Peter slammed Derek into the wall, damaging it. He then slammed him into the other wall and Stiles and I tried to dart pass them. Derek fell and I grabbed Stiles’ jacket.

“Get out of here!” I pushed the teenager forward and turned back to Peter as he walked towards Derek. I darted towards them.

“Trish! Don’t!” I was going to push Peter, but I either overestimated my speed or underestimated his. He grabbed my throat and then threw me down the hall. I landed on my back and slid. I rolled to my side and looked up. Peter was holding Derek by the throat and walking towards me, Derek struggling to free himself from Peter’s grasp.

“My mind,” Peter said calmly as if he were talking about the weather. “My personality were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct.” I rose to my knees, managing to get one foot under me. Peter was now looking at me. He dropped Derek next to Jennifer and then crouched and started going through her pockets, pulling out a set of keys.

“You want forgiveness?” Derek asked as he stood and clocked Peter in the face. Derek tried to get another strike in, but was blocked. Peter than head-butted Derek.

“I want understanding.” While Derek was grappling with Peter, I was charging a force field type magic. I just needed Derek out of the way before I let it fly. Peter kicked Derek in the chest and he went flying. He landed on his back and then flipped over backwards and landed on his stomach beside me, blood dropping from his nose and lips. I took that moment to let the magical blast fly. Peter stumbled backwards a few feet before falling.

“Derek, get up.” Peter was back on his feet as if nothing had happened, dusting off his coat and I started to charge another.

“Do either one of you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell?” I sent another blast at him, this time Peter braced himself. I stepped in front of Derek as he slowly rose, intent on protecting my friend from his uncle. “Even more slowly coming back to consciousness,” He looked at me. “I have your darling little sister and her beautiful poems to thank for helping with that,” I realized then why the Alpha didn’t kill Anna at the school. He spared her because he liked her. He looked past me at Derek again. I sent a third blast and he dodged it completely. “Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura, pushed me over a plateau in the healing process,” He grabbed my throat then before I could send the partially charged blast at him and I gasped, grabbing onto his wrist. “I can’t help that.” Derek attacked again, Peter catching his fist.

“Ah!” I could hear the bones crunching as Peter squeezed Derek’s fist. Derek went down to a knee.

“Peter,” I managed to get out.

“I like you, Trish. I always have. I know it’s in your nature to protect,” He released my throat, then grabbed a handful of hair. “You’re like family, Druid. That’s why I’m not going to kill you.” He then slammed my head down on the arm of the closest waiting room chair. And my whole world went black. The last thing I remember is Derek’s voice.

“Trish!”


	11. Protect the Pack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna discovers who the Alpha is. Trish struggles with telling Anna the truth about their family and herself

“Trish!” I heard someone yelling. “Trish! Please don’t be dead! Trish!” I realized it was Stiles, just as I realized I was being slapped. My hand shot up and I caught Stiles’ wrist. And I would never be able to do that again. Especially with my eyes closed. Stiles gave a yelp as I opened my eyes.

“You don’t have to slap so hard,” I said. My head was pounding. I let go of Stiles and pressed my palm against the spot where my head had slammed into the arm of the chair, which was right at the hairline. I pulled my hand away and saw blood. “That son of a bitch.” I pressed my palm back against my head and Stiles helped me into one of the chairs. I noticed it was just me and Stiles. Derek, Peter and even Jennifer were gone. “Where’s Derek and Peter?” I really didn’t care about Jennifer at that moment.

“Derek left with Peter.”

“What?”

“Derek followed Peter out of here and didn’t look back.” I was numb. Why would Derek… Of course. Derek was a survivalist. He did anything he had to in order to survive. And if joining Peter’s pack meant survival, he would do it.

“Scott,” I suddenly said. “You have to warn Scott. You have to get to the game and warn Scott.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Scott’s more important,” I pushed him aside. “Go!” Stiles hesitated again before taking off. I sat for a few more minutes before slowly standing and going to my car before first shift showed up and started asking questions about the damage and mess here that would lead to me being fired.

 

Anna burst through the door as I was tending to my head.

“Trish! The Argents think that Jackson—,” she cut off when she saw the herbs, bowl of water and my makeup mirror sitting on the kitchen table. “Oh, my God! What happened?”

“Okay, first, can you please not shout?” My head was pounding and I was trying to determine if I was going to have to give myself stitches. Anna sat next to me.

“What happened?” She lowered her voice maybe a note.

“I tripped,” Anna gave me a look. “Seriously, I had a fight with the arm of a chair. And the Alpha may have helped some.”

“What!?”

“Shouting. My head is about to explode.”

“Was running not an option?”

“At that moment, no.” I wasn’t ready to drop the bombshell of the family secret on Anna. Or tell her my secret. Or tell her that her beloved Peter was the Alpha that had been killing people and pretending to be a catatonic burn victim for God knows how long. I’m pretty sure I was about to burst from all my secrets. I felt like I needed to go to Confession and I’m not even Catholic.

“Now, what were you saying about the Argents and Jackson?”

“Kate saw the scratches Derek gave him. She pointed it out to Chris. Now they think he’s Scott.”

I put my face in my hands.

“Ah, crap.”

“And Jackson knows.”

My head shot up, making it pound and I wished I hadn’t done that.

“What!? How!?”

“I don’t know, but he wants the Bite.”

“Oh, we’re all freaking screwed.”

“Scott and Derek are the ones screwed. It’s only a matter of time before the Hunters come down on Jackson and he tells them about Scott.”

“I know,” I all but collapsed on the table. “Ow.” My voice was muffled because my head was on my arms. I was sure Jackson didn’t know about me but I had a feeling that I was already on the Argents’ radar just because of my connection to the Hales.

“What do we do?” I lifted my head.

“We protect the pack.”

 

**ANNA**

 

Lydia and I followed Allison through the woods. She had a bow case slung over her shoulder and was walking quickly. I had no problem keeping up, since I was wearing my favorite boots. Lydia? Not so much since she was wearing heels.

“Allison, when you said you needed to stop for an errand before we went shopping, a five mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting.”

I smiled, trying not to laugh.

“Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you were okay with something. Jackson asked me to the Winter Formal.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah. Just as friends. But I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you first.”

“Sure. As long as it’s just friends.” What did Lydia care if it was just friends or a date? Jackson dumped her. Although I could tell she was still in love with Jackass. I mean, Jackson.

“Well, yeah, I mean…,” Allison chuckled. “It’s not like I would take him to Coach’s office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything.” Lydia stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide.

“Would that have been before or after we were chased around the school by some maniac?”

“After,” Lydia squeaked. “Uh… About that….” Lydia started following Allison again and I laughed. Allison crouched down and unpacked her bow.

“Nice,” I commented.

“Hold this,” Allison handed me a silver oblong globe and I studied it. Trish and I used to do casual archery. Trish didn’t do it much after she started nursing school and I quit after Mom died. This didn’t look like any point I’d ever seen. Allison took it from me and screwed it into the arrow.

“What does that do?” Lydia asked.

“We’re about to find out.” Allison stood and aimed at a tree before releasing. It hit the tree and the arrowhead exploded with a bright flash. Lydia jumped and for some reason I felt like this would be bad news for Scott and Derek.

“What the hell was that?” Lydia asked.

“I don’t know.”

Lydia looked at me.

“Why are you looking at me? I don’t know either.” Allison looked like she was deep in thought.

“Well, that was fun!” Lydia said. “Any more lethal weapons you want to try out?” A twig snapped and all three of us looked in the direction it came from.

“What the hell was that?” I asked. There was another snap and I knew then that we weren’t alone. Lydia looked worried. Another snap that sounded like it was behind us. “Please tell me we’re not about to be murdered.”

“You’re not helping, Anna!” Allison held her bow out to Lydia.

“Hold this.” Lydia took it.

“What? Why?”

“Because I thought I heard something.”

“So what if you heard something? Let’s get out of here.”

“I second that motion.”

“Well, I want to find out what that something is. Don’t worry, it’s probably nothing.”

“Well, what if that nothing is something and that something is something dangerous?”

“Shoot it.” My eyebrows shot up and Lydia made this weird noise. I crouched down and went through Allison’s bag, looking for the arrow heads. I found a couple of broadheads and quickly screwed them onto a couple of arrows.

“Gimme that.” I took the bow from Lydia and nocked the arrow, but didn’t draw.

“Why do you look like you know what you’re doing?”

“Because I do,” Lydia made the same noise again. Several minutes later, Allison returned, a taser in her hand. “Whoa, what the hell is that?”

“Taser. I always carry it with me since what happened at school. Why do you have one of my arrows nocked?”

“Well, you said if that nothing turned out to be something dangerous to shoot it. I was just being prepared.” I unnocked the arrow and set the bow down, then proceeded to take off the broadheads.

“Well, what was it?” Lydia asked.

“It was just Scott stalking me. He found my necklace and was giving it back.”

“Oh.” Allison packed her bow. “Can we get out of here now before Stiles shows up?”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let’s go.”

 

Trish barely looked like she’d gotten her head smashed a couple of days before. She hadn’t been to work, faking a stomach bug. She was currently sitting at the kitchen table, rubbing her temples.

“Trish?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You seem more stressed lately.”

“I’m… I’m fine. Really.”

“Stiles’ dad connected all the murders to the Hale fire. Except for Laura. Oh, hey, check this out.” I pulled out my phone and found the picture of Derek’s mug shot that Stiles had sent me. It looked like a bright blue lens flare that covered Derek’s entire face. I showed it to Trish. She laughed.

“Of course he’d do that,” she said.

“Derek’s doing that?”

“You know how when you take a picture with flash, you sometimes get red eye?”

“Yeah,”

“It’s because of the light hitting your lenses. It’s worst on a werewolf. They can learn control that and Derek and Laura had pretty amazing control. Which means Derek did this on purpose.”

“Cool.”

“Everyone has a connection to the fire?”

“Yeah. Stiles said that the bus driver was the insurance adjuster for the fire investigation but was fired over suspicion of fraud. The video store guy and the two guys in the woods all had arson priors. The only one Stilinski couldn’t figure out was Laura.”

“So it _was_ arson.”

“Yeah. Wait. You knew already?”

Trish nodded. Why didn’t she ever tell me this stuff?

“We suspected that the Argents did it, but we never could prove it.”

“We as in…?”

“Derek, Laura and I.”

“Why?”

Trish shook her head.

“I don’t know. None of the Hales ever gave any of them cause to think they were killing innocent people.” My phone rang.

“Yes, Stiles?”

_I’m coming to pick you up. We have a bit of an emergency situation involving Scott’s mom and the Alpha. “What do you want me to do?” Ride shotgun. We’re going to stop their date before he bites Melissa._

“Seriously, Stiles?”

_I’m outside now._

I sighed.

“Well, Trish, I’m off to piss off somebody.”

“What? Who?”

“Probably Melissa. Be back soon.” I darted towards the door.

“Anna!”

 

“Is that it?” I asked, pointing at the car parked on the side of the road.

“Yep.”

“And the Alpha is in it with Melissa?”

“Yep. He’s planning on biting Melissa to force Scott to join his pack.”

“So you know who this is?”

“Yeah. I kinda watched him kick Derek and Trish’s asses.”

“Why was he kicking Trish’s ass? Whoa!” I braced myself as Stiles slammed into the back of the car. “Did you have to hit it that hard?” Melissa got out of the passenger side and Stiles and I got out of the Jeep.

“Are you kidding me!? Stiles!” The Alpha hadn’t gotten out of the car yet.

“Mrs. McCall?” Stiles plays dumb very well.

“Yes!”

“Hi, Melissa.”

“Anna?”

“I’m sorry. I told him to watch out.” The Alpha finally got out of the car and my heart started racing.

“Wow. This is… This is just crazy. What a coincidence, huh?” Melissa scoffed. The Alpha turned away from us before I could see his face. I really wanted to see the human form of the Alpha who didn’t kill me when we came face to face at school. The night I really thought I was going to die. And piss myself before I did. “I mean… I do not know what happened. You guys came out of nowhere.”

“Well, looking at me didn’t help that.” I could bullshit with the best of them. Okay, maybe I wasn’t as good at making up bullshit like Stiles and Scott, but I had a really good teacher. It started raining at that point.

“Came out of nowhere!? We were parked on the side of the road, Stiles!”

“How crazy is that?” The Alpha then joined us and my heart almost stopped. “I mean, we should probably call the cops, you know, do like an accident report thing.” Was that really who I thought it was? I mean the burns were gone, but that’s because he’s a werewolf right? Most of the Hales were wolves, right?

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Then we made eye contact. Yes, it was him. I knew those beautiful blue eyes anywhere.

“Are you sure?”

Peter smiled.

“Anna, lovely to see you.” Stiles looked from me to Peter than back to me.

“You two know each other?” Melissa asked.

“Family friend.”

I nodded, recovering from the shock of seeing him walking, talking and going on a date with Melissa.

“My sister was good friends with his niece.”

“Our families also go way back.”

Stiles suddenly rubbed his neck.

“I think I’m feeling a little whiplash,” he said

“Whiplash!” Melissa cried. “You hit us!”

“I don’t know. There’s definitely something wrong with my neck.”

“There’s something wrong with your head,” I muttered and Peter chuckled. It made sense now why the Alpha didn’t kill me. Because the Alpha was my Peter. He turned away as Melissa and Stiles argued. Did that mean Peter had killed all those people? I knew that everyone wanted to stop the Alpha and the Argents wanted to kill him, but I couldn’t hate him. Not like Scott did. I understood why. I’d kill everyone involved too if my family had burned to death in a fire and I barely survived. I couldn’t hate my Peter.

 

**TRISH**

 

Anna had run out of the house with no explanation of where she was going. I didn’t like that. I called her phone but she didn’t answer. Finally, Anna came home. She had a shocked look on her face as she looked at me.

“You knew who the Alpha was,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I… I didn’t know how you would react. I didn’t have the heart to tell you that it was Peter. I’m sorry, Anna.”

“Just trying to protect me.”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“You can’t keep sheltering me. And answer your phone.” I hadn’t realized it was ringing. I looked at the caller ID as Anna went upstairs.

“Anna!”

“I don’t want to talk right now.” I went to the bottom of the stairs and sighed as she slammed her door. I was going to have to completely come clean with her. My phone rang again.

“Alan?”

_I need you to come to the animal clinic. Scott’s been shot with wolfsbane._

“I’m on my way,” I hung up and grabbed my jacket. “Anna, I’ll be back later! Then we’re going to talk.”

 

Alan was working on Scott when I arrived. He’d been shot in the side. I immediately jumped in to help. Alan had some experience with removing bullets, but I had much more. I slipped a pair of exam gloves on and went to work digging out the bullet.

“What happened to your head?” he asked as he mixed some herbs to help with Scott’s healing process.

“The Alpha slammed my head into a chair. Had a nice nap until Stiles started slapping the crap out of me.”

Alan chuckled. I dropped the bullet into a pan as Alan started applying the healing herbs to Scott’s wound. Scott suddenly gasped and lifted his head, coughing. He didn’t look like he had any idea where he was. I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t get up just yet,” Alan said. When I saw he wasn’t going to try to get up, I moved my hand and went back to work on the wound.

“Where am I?”

“The Holiday Inn,” I said, drawing a smile out of Alan.

“You’re fine,” he said. “And we’ve given you something that should speed up the healing process.” Scott looked down at what we were doing, then looked at Alan.

“But you’re a vet.”

“That’s very true. And 90% of the time, I’m mostly treating cats and dogs.”

“Mostly?”

“Mostly.” Alan smiled and Scott passed out. And I should take this moment to tell you about my mysterious friend who I trust more than anyone in this crazy down. Dr. Alan Deaton, normal animal vet by day, werewolf vet by night. I’m not kidding. He works on werewolves after hours. Actually, he works on anything supernatural. Alan is a Druid. A retired one. He, like me, hadn’t had any contact with the supernatural until the Alpha’s appearance. Alan didn’t use magic like I did. At all. He was your normal run of the mill pack adviser, even if his pack didn’t take his advice half the time. His pack being Scott, although he had been close to Talia Hale.

“Did the Hunters finally find him?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. They wouldn’t have let him escape. I found him on the Hale property.”

“What was he doing there? And how did you know he would be there?”

“I didn’t but my gut told me to go there.”

“I guess we’re going to have to wait til he wakes up and find out, hmm?”

“That we will.” I paused as I disposed of my gloves. I really didn’t know how to explain everything to Anna. How do you tell your little sister who recently discovered that fairy tales existed and her catatonic best friend was not only faking but on a killing spree the family secret? How do I tell her that she comes from a long line of Druids and her sister is not only a magic welding Druid but an Eamonn as well? How do I explain what an Eamonn is?

“Alan, I need your advice on something.”


	12. The Winter Formal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish finally lets Anna in on the family secret. Anna attends a formal dance

“Telling her the truth is perhaps the best thing you can do for her,” Alan said.

“But how do I break it to her? ‘Oh, hey, Mom predicted her own death and made me your legal guardian because I am a Druid that can use magic and a protector.’” Alan chuckled. “That just isn’t going to cut it.”

“She is already upset that you didn’t tell her about Peter. Keeping the family secret from her will also upset her, including keeping her in the dark about your own abilities. She’ll need you if or when her own abilities start to manifest.” I sighed as I saw moment out of the corner of my eye and turned. Scott was sitting up. Alan turned as Scott jumped off the exam table.

“Welcome back to the land of the conscious,” he said, steadying Scott on one side while I steadied him from the other. “You doing okay?” Scott looked completely dazed and confused.

“You should take a seat,” I said. Scott looked down and started messing with the bandage I’d put over his wound. “Leave that alone until it heals,” I said as the bell announcing someone coming into the clinic sounded.

“Hello?” Alan turned to go see who it was and Scott grabbed his arm. He looked worried, which worried me. Alan gave him a reassuring smile and went into the front office. “I’m sorry, but we’re…,” Alan cut off and I started to join him. Scott grabbed my arm and shook his head. “We’re closed.”

“Don’t,” he mouthed. I stayed with him, sensing his fear. I touched his arm.

“Hi, there,” I heard Peter say and I squeezed Scott’s arm. “I’m here to pick up.”

“I’m not sure I remember you dropping off.”

“This one either wandered in on its own or my lovely niece brought it in.” Scott backed away until he hit the corner and then he crouched down. I grasped my magic, although I’m sure Alan would frown upon fighting in the clinic. I put my back against the wall closest to the doorway but where Peter wouldn’t be able to see me.

“Even if that happened, I’m afraid I can’t help you. We’re closed.”

“I think you can make an exception this one time. Don’t you?”

“I’m sorry. That’s not going to be possible.” How in hell can Alan be so calm facing the Alpha? “Maybe you could come back during regular hours.”

Peter’s tone changed, going darker.

“You have something of mine. I’m here to collect it.”

“Like I said,” Alan’s tone changed as well. “We’re closed.” It was a tone that said he wasn’t going to back down. I heard scraping.

“Mountain Ash,” I’d forgotten that the back half of the building was made out of Mountain Ash, a wood that kept supernatural creatures at bay. They couldn’t cross it or touch it. Which meant the door on the chair rail that separated the front office from the lobby was closed, making a barrier that protected everyone inside. “That’s an old one.” I jumped when something that I suspected was a chair hit the wall.

“Let me be as clear as possible,” Alan said slowly and clearly. “We… are… closed.” A few minutes later the bell sounded. I stepped out of the back.

“You’re insane,” I said, taking in the shattered chair and the dent in the wall.

“As are you.” He turned to me. Scott appeared in the doorway.

“He’s going to go after Allison!” he cried. “He’s going to hurt her to get to me!”

“You know Argent won’t be able to protect her alone,” I said.

“But neither can Scott.”

“Have you met him?” I asked. I knew he would go to the Argents just to keep watch over her, no matter what we said to convince him otherwise. I opened the gate, breaking the barrier. “Don’t get caught.” Alan gave me a look. “I have a sister to give an explanation to.”

 

“Druids?” Anna was looking at me like I needed to be in Eichen House, a local mental hospital. “Our family are Druids?”

“A long line of them. Mom was, Aunt Catherine was, I’m one.”

“What about me?”

“You could already be a Druid. Some of us use magic. My friend Alan and Aunt Catherine didn’t use magic. Mom did to an extent.”

“What do you mean Mom did?”

“She wasn’t powerful, but she had the power of premonition. She could see a person’s possible future and she was a healer. But she couldn’t heal herself.”

“And you?” I hesitated. “Trish?”

“I’m powerful.”

“How powerful?”

“Powerful enough to defend myself from the Alpha. Mostly,” I stood. “Come here.” Anna followed me downstairs and I opened the door to the hidden room.

“Whoa.”

“Myself and any werewolf can access this room,” I pointed at the small slots in the circular stone in the middle of the three where I’d pressed the combination using my magic. “See these?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re made for claws,” I led her into the room and motioned to the walls of jars. “These hold every herb known to us. I even have wolfsbane in case of emergency.”

“What kind of emergency?”

“Wolfsbane is a poison to a werewolf. But it can also be a cure. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get my hands on Nordic blue or the other two rare species of wolfsbane. That would really come in handy then.”

“What are the beds for?”

“Injured supes.”

“Like when you had Derek down here?”

“Yeah,” I pointed to the wall next to the now closed door. “The triskilion and this other symbol are both Hale family symbols.”

“Are we related to them?”

I chuckled.

“I asked Mom the same thing. She said she wasn’t aware of any kind of relation, but our family has been family friends with the Hales for generations. Long before Laura and I became best friends,” I tapped the spirals of the triskilion and opened the door again. “Now you know the family secret.” I purposely risked not telling her about myself being an Eamonn.

“Does anyone else know?”

“Only the Hales and Alan. And Stiles is aware of my powers. I was protecting him from Jennifer and... and Peter.” Anna’s eyebrows shot up.

“Jennifer?”

“She was helping Peter and sent the text that lured you, Allison, Jackson and Lydia to the school.”

“Oh,” Anna turned and started to go up the stairs, then stopped. “You know why he did it, don’t you?” I gave her a puzzled look. “He’s getting revenge for their family.” I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped as she walked up the stairs. Even though he chased her around the school, she didn’t hate him. She really was an angel.

 

I took Anna to Macy’s to buy her dress for the formal. She was meeting Allison and Lydia there and they were going to spend all afternoon trying on the perfect dress. I couldn’t remember the last time I was in Macy’s. Anna was excited. She didn’t have a date, but was going anyway. Like big sister, like little sister. The girls chatted as I followed behind. Well, mostly Lydia and Anna. Allison said only a few words.

“Is something wrong?” Lydia asked as they stepped onto the escalator heading towards the formal wear.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Allison answered. “I just… I have a lot on my mind.” Translation: She found out about werewolves. That had to be what she was thinking about. Or maybe she was thinking about other stuff. Maybe I should just mind my own business. Yeah, Trish, just mind your own business.

“You can smile at least,” Lydia smiled, taking her own advice. “Ever hear the saying ‘Don’t frown. Someone could be falling in love with your smile’?” Anna turned and looked at me and I smiled.

“Frequently,” Anna said. Mom used to say that all the time. It was one of her favorite sayings.

“Smile, Allison,” Lydia said, drawing a laugh out of Allison. “I’m buying you a dress.”

“I have to admit as far as apologies go, that’s more than I expected.”

“Excellent.”

“But not as much as I’m going to ask.” I smell teenage conniving.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re going to cancel on whatever dumb, roided-up jock you said yes to and you’re going with someone else.”

“Who?” Anna took Lydia’s shoulders and pointed her over towards the perfume counter. Stiles was leaning against it playing with the perfume.

“Him,” Anna said. Stiles sprayed himself in the face and then sneezed.

 _Oh, dear God._ I thought. What in holy hell were they up to now?

“Oh…, don’t frown, Lydia,” Allison said and it was taking me everything not to bust out laughing. Stiles saw us and smiled and waved. “Someone could be falling in love with your smile.” Lydia gave both Allison and Anna a dirty look. The two girls smiled.

 

I was putting back dresses that Anna had rejected because they didn’t look right. So far none of these looked good on her. I’m pretty sure she’d tried on every color under the rainbow in every shade. I found a dark silver dress with rhinestones across one shoulder and a black lacy one with an undertone of red. They were both cute dresses. I also found a pale pink and white one shoulder dress I thought she might also like.

“Attention shoppers, the owner of a blue Mazda, license plate 5UN I768, your car is being towed/” A moment later, I saw Allison run past.

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” I had never seen anyone run so fast in heels.

“Wow,” I headed back towards Anna. “Hey, Anna, I found —.” I looked up and stopped in my tracks. Peter was holding an emerald green dress in one hand and Anna’s hand in the other. He had the dress laid over her hand.

“Perfect. And it brings out the red in your hair.” Anna was beaming.

“Really? You think so?”

“Yes, go try it on. See how it fits.” Anna bounced into the fitting room.

“What are you doing here?”

“Anna looked like she was having trouble picking dresses. Thought I’d lend a hand.”

“Well, it just made you look like a creep.” Peter only smirked and I rolled my eyes. He picked up the black dress.

“Black and red? With her tone? That would make her look washed out.”

“So does white.” I took the dress back. “And when did you start giving fashion advice to teenagers?”

“Did I not help you and Laura pick out your junior prom dresses?” He had a point. He did go with us when we were shopping for prom dresses. “Come on. You’re still not mad at me, are you?”

“Which thing are we talking about? Killing Laura? Or slamming my head against the chair so hard it knocked me unconscious?”

“You were protecting Derek, but I had to protect you somehow.”

“From what?” Anna came out of the fitting room. I had to admit, she looked perfect. “Wow.”

Anna grinned.

“Now all you’ll need is a beautiful necklace and your curls piled on top of your head and it’ll be a perfect night.” Anna beamed again. I felt bad now because she looked so happy.

“I’m getting this one!” She went back into the fitting room and Peter took the dresses out of my hands, hanging them up on the return rack.

“Have you heard from Derek?”

I shook my head.

“I haven’t even seen him since the incident at Beacons Crossing.”

“Hmm. Well, if you hear from him, tell him to call me,” He turned and started to walk away. “Tell Anna I had to run.” I shook my head and sighed. Why did my life have to be so complicated?

 

**ANNA**

 

I walked into the gym. I went stag, not having anyone to go with. Stiles was going with Lydia, thanks to me and Allison. Allison was going with Jackson. And Scott wasn’t allowed to come. He was failing three classes and it was either he been taken off the lacrosse team or not attend the formal. Coach fought for keeping him on the team. But Stiles and I knew he was going anyway. I think my self-esteem was at an all-time high tonight. I danced alone for a while until a boy with sandy blond hair and blue eyes asked me to dance. I didn’t know his name but I knew he was on the lacrosse team. He mostly kept to himself and didn’t talk much. He still didn’t talk much but did tell me his name was Isaac. We both heard Coach start yelling.

“McCall! I see you! Come here, buddy,” Isaac and I looked at each other. “McCall!” I danced into Coach’s path. “Get out of my way!” Isaac did the exact same thing. “McCall! It’s a small gym, buddy. I’m gonna find you! I got you, McCall! Come here! Come here! Get outta my way! McCall!” A slow song started. “McCall! You’re not supposed to… What the hell are you….” The music stopped and everyone turned towards Coach and Scott. I nearly lost it when I saw he was dancing with Danny. Isaac snickered, trying not to laugh. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Yes, Coach?” I was trying so hard not to laugh. The look on Coach’s face was priceless.

“Okay,” Coach chuckled nervously, then started laughing. “Hold on, you… I was just saying he’s not supposed to… I mean, I wasn’t saying that he shouldn’t… You guys don’t think… You don’t… I… I was… Just dance, everybody! Just dance! It’s a dance! It’s a party!” Coach retreated and I looked at Isaac. We both started laughing.

“Scott’s really comfortable with his sexuality,” he commented. I looked back over at Danny just as Scott took off, leaving Danny looking very confused and his date even more so.

“I’d like to hear that explanation,” I said with a laugh. We took a seat and started talking. Several minutes later we saw Allison and Scott run out of the gym. “Looks like they made up,” I said and Isaac chuckled.

“It’s a little stuffy in here. Wanna go outside for some fresh air?”

“Sure.” We went outside and started getting to know one another.


	13. Code Breaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish and Chris team together and race to prevent a Code Breaker from killing more innocents. Anna receives devastating news. Trish finds herself faced with a new mystery

**TRISH**

 

The ER door opened and paramedics rushed in. I ran towards the gurney.

“What do we have?” I asked before I saw the patient.

“Teen girl. Animal bite. She was found on the lacrosse field at the school.”

“What?” Then I saw who was being rushed in. Lydia was covered in blood and unconscious. Stilinski wasn’t very far behind. “We need to get her stable. Get the attending in here now!” We transferred her to a bed and myself and another nurse cut her dress off. I saw most of the blood had come from the large bite on her side. I knew exactly what bit her. The Alpha. Which meant by this time tomorrow Lydia would either be dead or a werewolf. I rubbed the back of my neck as the doctor spoke to the Martins. I pulled my phone out to call Anna when she and Jackson darted out of the elevator.

“Where’s Lydia? Huh?” Jackson asked as Anna ran towards me, wrapping me in a hug. Stilinski turned and headed towards Jackson

“Is she going to be okay?” Anna asked. “Please tell me she’ll be okay.”

“We don’t know yet. She’s stable for the moment.”

“Where is she? Where’s —” Jackson stopped when he saw Lydia lying in the hospital bed through the window that opened into the ICU room she was in.

“Hey,” Stilinski spun Jackson around. “Hey! What the hell happened to that girl?”

“I… I don’t know. I went out looking for her….”

“What? You just happened to wander into the middle of that field and you just found her there like that? Don’t lie to me, son.”

“No, I….”

“Hey!” Stilinski grabbed Jackson by his jacket and shoved him against the window. “What happened to her?” I grabbed the sheriff’s shoulder.

“Noah!” I rarely called the sheriff by his given name, but Stilinski was too long to say at that moment.

“This isn’t my fault!”

“She’s your girlfriend! That’s your responsibly!”

“Let him go!”

“No, she’s not, okay? She didn’t go to the formal with me.”

“Then who’d she go with?”

“Do you really want to know? She went with Stiles.”

“What?”

“Stiles took her.” Stilinski finally let go of Jackson and backed up. Jackson turned back towards the window as Stilinski turned to his deputies.

“Somebody better find my son.”

 

I walked out of Lydia’s room after doing my hourly check on her. Stiles stumbled out of the elevator and was intercepted by his dad.

“You know what? It’s good that we’re in a hospital because I’m gonna kill you.”

“I’m sorry, I lost the keys to my Jeep. I had to run all the way here.”

“Stiles! I don’t care!”

“Is she gonna be okay?” Stilinski turned and looked at Lydia. Jackson and Anna was still at the window looking in and I wrapped my arm around Anna.

“They don’t know. Partially because they don’t know what happened,” Stiles and I made eye contact. We both knew what really happened. But we couldn’t just say that a werewolf bit her. We’d both be carted away to Eichen House. “She lost a lot of blood, but there’s something else going on with her.”

“What do you mean?”

“The doctors say it’s like she’s having an allergic reaction. Her body keeps going into shock.” I looked at Lydia. I really hope that her body wasn’t rejecting the Bite. “Did you see anything? I mean, do you have any idea who or what attacked her?”

Stiles shook his head.

“No. No, I have no idea.”

“What about Scott? I already talked to Anna and she said she was in the gym the whole time.”

“What do you mean? What about him?”

“Did he see anything?”

“What do you…? Is he not here?” I heard the worry in his voice.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been calling him on his cell phone. I’ve gotten no response.” Anna broke away from Jackson and I.

“Yeah, you’re not gonna get one.”

“Why not?”

“Scott lost his phone,” Anna said.

“Well, thanks for telling me this now.”

“I didn’t think you were going to have to call him on it.” Stilinski and Stiles left and Anna returned to me.

“Where _is_ Scott?” I asked the two teenagers.

“I haven’t seen him at all tonight,” Jackson answered.

“Last time I saw him, he was leaving the gym with Allison.” Anna said.

“He was what?”

“I thought he wasn’t allowed to be there.” Jacksn was genuinly puzzled.

“He wasn’t. Coach caught him and he got Danny to help him out. That was hilarious. You should have seen the look on Coach’s face.” Jackson scoffed and shook his head. Several minutes later, Stiles returned.

“I know who set the fire,” he said in a low voice.

“What?” I responded.

“I know who set the fire. The guys Peter killed were just pawns. I know who the ringleader is. And I know where Derek is. I think she’s gonna kill him.”

“Who? Why?”

“She set the fire to kill the Hales. She’s trying to finish what she started.”

“Who?” Anna asked. Realization dawned on me then. It wasn’t the Argents as a whole, but it was one of them.

“Oh, my God. That’s why she came back.”

Stiles nodded. Anna raised her hand.

“Map, please, because Anna is lost.”

“Anna, I need you to stay here with Lydia. I promise I’ll explain everything later, but you have to trust me on this,” Anna looked me in the eye, then nodded. “Stiles, we have to hurry.” Stiles and I briskly walked down the hall.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jackson asked, following us.

“To find Scott.”

“While you’re doing that," I said. "I’ll get to Derek. Where is he?”

“He’s in the escape tunnel under the house.”

“Seriously? She’s keeping him there of all places?”

“No one thought to look there.”

“Good point.”

“You don’t have a car and you can’t ride with Anna’s sister if you both are going to be looking two different places.”

“Anna’s sister has a name,” I snapped.

“I’ll drive. Come on…” Jackson grabbed Stiles shoulder and he slapped his hand away and stopped.

“Look, just because you feel guilty all of a sudden doesn’t make it okay, alright? Half of this is still your fault.”

“What did you do, Jackson?”

“He told Argent about Scott.”

“Give me a good reason not to break your nose.”

“Look, I have a car. You don’t. I can help you look for Scott while Trish goes to the Hale house to find Derek. Do you want my help or not?” He had a valid point.

“Alright,” Stiles said. “Did you bring the Porsche?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Jackson pulled his keys out and Stiles snatched them out of his hand.

“I’ll drive.” We turned and came face to face with Chris and two of his Hunters.

_Oh, crap._

“Boys,” Chris said, with a smile. “Trish. I was wondering if you could tell me where Scott McCall is.”

“I’ve been here all night,” I answered. “Haven’t seen him around tonight.”

“Scott McCall?” Stiles asked. “Um… Haven’t seen him since the dance.”

“Hmm.”

“Jackson, you?”

“Uh… I….” I’m going to kill him. Slowly and painfully.

“Oh, for the love of God,” Stiles sighed. All three of them grabbed us and tossed us into an empty exam room. All three of us hit the exam table. Chris shut and locked the door before turning back towards us. Yeah. We’re dead.

“Let’s try this again. Where is Scott McCall?”

“Does it look like we know, Argent?” I mouthed. Okay for the record, an Eamonn mouthing off to a Hunter is never a very good idea. For future reference, in case you guys ever have the urge to mouth off to someone that can cut you in half or shoot you in the head. One of the Hunters grabbed me and twisted an arm behind my back, causing me to inhale sharply from the pain, as Chris grabbed Stiles and slammed him into the cabinets.

“Let me ask you a question, Stiles,” Chris said. “Have you ever seen a rabid dog?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“No. I could put it on my to-do list if you just let me go.”

“Well, I have and the only thing I’ve been able to compare it to is seeing a friend of mine turn on the full moon,” He looked over his shoulder at me. “You know what that’s like, don’t you, Trish?” I didn’t answer. He’d known all this time that I was fully aware of Beacon Hills’ secret world. “You know exactly what it’s like to see a werewolf come at you.”

“I hate to break it to you, but none of them ever came at me. They were in much better control than you think.” Chris ignored my statement and turned his attention back to Stiles.

“Do you want to know what happened?”

“Not really,” Stiles answered. “No offense to your storytelling skills.”

“He tried to kill me and I was forced to put a bullet in his head,” He jabbed Stiles’ forehead with his forefinger to drive the point home. “The whole while that he lay there dying, he was still trying to claw his way toward me, still trying to kill me, like it was the most important thing he could do with his last breath. Can you imagine that?”

Stiles shook his head.

“No. And it sounds like you need to be more selective—” Chris slammed his hands into the cabinet.

“Did Scott try to kill you on the full moon? Did you have to lock him up?”

“Yeah, I did. I had to handcuff him to a radiator,” He didn’t mention Anna, thankfully. “Why? Would you prefer I lock him in the basement and burned the whole house down around him?”

Chris suddenly chuckled.

“I hate to dispel a popular rumor, Stiles, but we never did that,” I snorted and he turned to me. “You know that we wouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah, and I’m the Virgin Mary.”

“Oh, right. Derek said you guys have a code. I guess no one _ever_ breaks it.”

“Never.”

“You sound so certain about that,” I quipped and Chris gave me a hard look.

“What if someone does?” Chris seemed to start to realize what we were saying.

“Someone like who?”

“Your sister,” Chris only looked at Stiles.

“You knew she was capable of it,” I said. “You knew how much she hated werewolves,” My voice darkened. “And you knew that she used a vulnerable teenage boy as a gateway to do it,” Chris turned to me. “She knows Derek is the only one left that knows it was her, but she doesn’t know that I knew as well. And she will kill him and Scott, Code or no Code. She’s a Code Breaker and you know it.” I slammed my fist back, hitting the Hunter in the family jewels. He doubled over and let go of my arm. I took a step towards Chris. “Help me stop her, Chris, before another innocent werewolf is killed.” I wasn’t going to tell him that Jackson and Stiles were helping as well. Chris nodded.

“I’ll help you stop her, Trish.”

 

“She has him at the Hale house,” I was hanging onto the handle above the window in Chris’ Tahoe as he sped towards the ruins of Derek’s childhood home. “Stiles thinks that Scott and Derek howled to each other.”

“Then the faster we get there, the faster we can keep them from being killed.”

“Exactly.” He stopped the car and got out.

“I don’t want her to hear us coming.” I took off in the direction of the house. As we came closer I could hear Derek yelling.

“Scott, go!” Several minutes later, I could see figures through the trees. Scott and Derek were both on the ground, Allison approaching Scott. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Then I saw Kate calmly walk up just as I reached earshot.

“Thank God. Now shoot him before I have to shoot myself.”

“You… you said we were just going to catch them,” Allison said.

“We did that. Now we’re gonna kill them,” Kate pointed her gun at Derek and fired. Derek, who had been trying to rise, fell back down, unmoving. I was horrified, grasping my magic. I was the only one allowed to threaten him. No one was allowed to kill him but me. “See? Not that hard.”

Chris grabbed my shoulder.

“Wait,” he whispered. I knew he was afraid that Allison would get caught in the crossfire. Scott looked at Derek, just as horrified as I was. Allison looked at her aunt like she’d grown another head.

“Oh, no… I know that look. That’s the ‘you’re gonna have to do it yourself’ look.” Kate pointed the gun at Scott.

“Kate, Kate, what are you doing?” Kate pushed Allison down when she tried to stop her.

“I love those brown eyes.”

“Kate!” Chris made himself known as I made a beeline to Derek.

“Derek,” He was out cold, but alive.

“I know what you did,” I used my magic to pull the two broken arrow shafts and the bullet out. I didn’t have time to do it the old fashioned way. He needed to start healing and quickly. “Put the gun down.”

“I did what I was told to do.”

“No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house, ones who were human. Look what you’re doing now! You’re holding a gun at a 16 year old boy with no proof he spilled human blood. We go by the Code.” Chris then said something in French. Yeah, I don’t speak French at all so I had no idea what he said. Thankfully, Allison decided to translate out loud.

“We hunt those who hunt us.” So he’d quoted the Code to his sister in French. Kate still had the gun trained on Scott. I stood seeing that Derek was healing and took a few steps forward. Chris suddenly held his gun up.

“Put the gun down,” Kate just looked at him. To my surprise, he actually fired a warning shot at his own sister, hitting the tree behind her. Kate looked over her shoulder at it then back to Chris, a shocked look on her face. “Before I put you down.” Shit just got real. Too real. Kate finally lowered the gun. I started to go towards Scott when the door suddenly began to creak open.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered. Peter was here. If he didn’t know that Kate had been the one to set the fire, he sure as hell knew now.

“Allison, get back.” I pulled her to her feet and pushed her behind me, gathering my power. I knew my eyes were purple at this point. Kate raised her gun to the door and Scott was quickly on his feet. Chris joined us, pointing his gun at the house.

“What is it?” Allison asked.

“It’s the Alpha,” Scott answered. Something darted out of the house, too quick for me to catch. All of us looked around us. Allison had her bow drawn and Scott had his claws out. Peter darted again, taking down Chris. He fell, unmoving. He knocked Allison down next and her bow fell out of her hand and skittered several feet away. My feet were knocked out from under me and I fell so hard it knocked the breath out of me. Scott fell next, leaving only Kate standing.

“Come on! Come on!” I rolled over, gasping for breath as I heard a gunshot. A second went off and I saw Peter was holding onto the hand with the gun. He brought his free hand down hard onto Kate’s forearm. With the way she screamed I knew he’d broken it. He then threw her onto the porch. He went to her, picking her up by her throat and dragging her into the house.

“No!” Allison cried and ran towards the house.

“Allison!” I staggered to my feet as she disappeared into the house. I followed her and found her standing in the hall looking into what used to be the living room. Peter had his claws against Kate’s throat.

“Say you’re sorry for decimating my family,” I could hear the pain in Peter’s voice. “For leaving me burned and broken for six years.” I saw the tears in his eyes and Anna’s words came to mind suddenly.

 

_You know why he did it, don’t you? He’s getting revenge for their family._

 

I understood now. The pain and trauma of watching his entire family burn to death had fueled this killing spree.

“Say it. And I’ll let her live.” I could tell that Kate was terrified. I moved to the other side of Allison.

“I’m sorry,” Kate whispered. Her breathing suddenly quickened the moment before Peter ripped out her throat. We both gasped and my hands went to my mouth. It was the first time I’d ever seen a werewolf actually kill someone. I’d see the victims afterwards, but never as it happened. Kate had a look of shock on her face as she fell. By the time she hit the floor, she was dead.

“Oh, God,” I whispered. Allison could only look on in shock. Peter sighed as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I don’t know about you, Allison, but that apology didn’t sound very sincere,” He took a step forward and I pushed Allison behind me. “Get out of the way, Trish.”

“No.” My eyes changed to purple. And I know this because when they do, my eyesight becomes insanely clearer and everything seems brighter.

“We’ve done this already. You can’t beat me.”

“And I can’t let you kill her.”

“Get out of the way! I don’t want to kill you.”

“I’m not moving.” His fangs extended and his eyes glowed bright red.

“Move! Or I will kill you!” I heard a growl to my left and glanced in that direction. Scott was fully transformed. I looked to my right as a fully transformed Derek approached from the other side.

“Get her out of here, Trish,” Derek said. Allison and I made our escape out the back and ran around to the front of the house and we began to hear snarls, growls and thuds coming from inside.

“Dad,” Allison whispered when we found Chris. “Dad. Dad!” I checked his pulse and was relieved to see he was still alive.

“Come on, Chris. Wake up.” We could use an experienced, Code following Hunter at this moment. Allison and I both looked up at the sound of crashing glass and one of the werewolves went flying out the window. Scott raised himself to his hands and knees as Peter, in his full Alpha form, came out of the same window. He picked Scott up and growled in his face. Scott kicked him in the chest and did a backflip as Peter staggered backwards. He hit the banister of the porch. I stood and held both of my hands out, causing the ground beneath him to buckle and he fell again. I couldn’t do that type of magic very long because it was draining on me, especially since I still hadn’t accepted that I could even use magic, even though I’d had the ability since my sperm donor took off. I released the earth magic and fell to my knees as a car screeched to a halt and honked the horn. Stiles ran towards us and threw something at Peter. Peter caught a large chemistry flask. He looked at it and roared at Stiles. Stiles seemed to know he was in trouble then.

“Allison!” Scott grabbed Allison’s bow and tossed it at her. She quickly nocked the arrow and released, hitting the flask just as Peter was going to throw it at her. It exploded and Peter’s arm was engulfed in flames. He roared and shook his arm, trying to extinguish the flames that way. Jackson threw a second flask at Peter. It hit him in the chest and the rest of him caught fire. I could only look on in shock. He looked at us, roared and started to charge.

“No!” Before I could use my force magic, Scott intercepted him, kicking him so hard he staggered several yards back. Peter fell to his knees, returning to his human form as the flames died. Then he collapsed. We all looked at one another in silence and I staggered to my feet. Allison rose as well and walked towards Scott as I slowly approached Peter. A moment later, Derek was doing the same. I stopped but Derek kept walking until he was standing literally over his uncle. Derek went to one knee on top of him. Scott ran over towards them.

“Wait!” he cried. “You said the cure comes from the one who bit you,” Derek didn’t say anything. “Derek. If you do this, I’m dead.”

“Derek,” I didn’t know if this cure was true or not. As far as anyone knew, it was a rumor “Derek, don’t.”

“Her father, her family… What am I supposed to do?”

“You’ve already decided,” Peter painfully whispered. “I can smell it on you!”

“He’s your family, Derek!” I cried. Derek raised his hand and I saw his claws were extended. “Don’t!”

“Wait!” Scott cried. “No, no! Don’t!” Derek brought his hand down.

“Derek, no!” But it was too late. Derek slashed open Peter’s throat. I backed away towards Scott, shocked that he’d killed his own uncle, just like Peter had killed his own niece. Derek stood, then turned towards us, his eyes glowing a new shade of bright red instead of the bright blue I was used to.

“I’m the Alpha now,” he said. How was I going to explain this to Anna?

 

The Argents and Jackson had taken off. Derek had helped Scott, Stiles and I bury Peter under the floorboards of the house, but had taken off as soon as he was in the ground. The three of us replaced the floorboards in silence. Scott and Stiles stood after we replaced the final board. I was still on my knees, the shock of what happened tonight beginning to wash over me. Scott held his hand out to me to help me up. Instead of taking his hand, I looked over at Kate’s body. Chris had put the Argent necklace on her, since Stiles had told him that his dad had a witness describing a young woman with a distinct pendent.

“I let him kill her,” I said. “I… I didn’t even try to stop him,” I looked up at Scott. “How does that make me any different from Peter?” I didn’t regret her death. At all. But I felt as guilty as if I had ripped her throat out myself. And that Allison had to watch her aunt die so violently.

“You were a part of the Hales as much as Laura and Derek and Peter were,” Scott said. “They were your family as much as Anna is. You lost, too. It doesn’t make you a bad person because you didn’t prevent her death. But you did try to stop Derek from killing Peter. That counts for something, right?”

“Anna adored Peter. What am I going to tell her?”

“Tell her the truth,” I looked up at Alan. At least I now knew we weren’t going to have to walk the entire way back to Beacon Hills Memorial, where my car was.

“That we set him on fire and then Derek killed him and is now the Alpha? That will devastate her.”

“She’ll find out Derek is the Alpha sooner or later,” Alan said. “Telling her now will prevent any more damage to your relationship.”

I sighed. He was right. As always.

“We need to go before the sheriff gets here.”

 

I sat in my Renegade for a good ten minutes with Anna in the passenger seat in the parking lot before my little sister spoke.

“Trish, what’s wrong? “

“Everything,” I whispered. I closed my eyes. This was going to be the worst conversation I had with Anna since Mom died. “Anna, there’s something I need to tell you. About what happened tonight,” Anna nodded. “Remember me telling you about the Argents?”

“That they’re Hunters?”

“Yes. A few nights ago, the night you found out Peter was the Alpha, Kate, Allison’s aunt, caught Derek. She wanted him to tell her how to find Peter and Scott. Peter bit Lydia to get Stiles to help him find Derek.”

“Why didn’t he just ask?”

“I don’t know. I found out tonight that I had been blaming all the Argents for the fire, when only one of them was involved.”

“Who?”

“Kate. I teamed with Chris to stop her from killing Scott and Derek. Peter killed her. He ripped her throat out. Right in front of me and Allison,” Anna gasped and I decided to leave out the part where Peter tried to kill Allison and threatened to kill me if I didn’t move out of his way. “You don’t need the details of what happened afterwards, but…,” I hesitated again. “Peter’s…,” I looked at Anna, who was looking at me expectantly. “Peter’s… He’s dead,” Anna’s eyes filled with tears.

“What? How? Who?”

“Derek… Derek is the Alpha now,” I had explained werewolf hierarchy to Anna after the school incident. How the Alpha had killed Laura while still a Beta and had stolen her spark to become the Alpha. Tears streamed down Anna’s face. I pulled her close and she cried into my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Anna. I’m sorry.”

 

“Get in here,” I whispered. Scott and Stiles darted into Lydia’s hospital room and I shut the door. I turned and saw Scott was crouched and Stiles was sprawled out on the floor. “What the hell are you doing, Stiles.”

“I fell.” I went around the bed to check Lydia’s vitals while the boys lifted the hospital gown on the side where she’d been bitten.

“Do it,” Stiles whispered.

“You do it,” Scott whispered back.

“I can’t. I’m way too worried.”

“Seriously, guys?” Scott looked around before he started to unpeel the bandage on Lydia’s side. Stiles looked away and I rolled my eyes.

“Is it completely healed?” he asked. Scott looked confused.

“No, not at all.”

“What?” I asked as Stiles looked at Scott. I came around the bed. There was still a bite on Lydia’s side.

“I don’t get it,” Stiles said. “The doctor said she’d be fine.”

“Yeah, but the bite’s not healing like it did with me.” I was just as shocked as they were. “Which means… She’s not a werewolf.”

“Then what the hell is she?”

I shook my head.

“This is impossible.” We looked at one another. Lydia was completely stable now and her body had stopped going into shock. They had already planned on putting her in a regular hospital room tomorrow. She was bitten by an Alpha. The same Alpha that had bitten Scott. Why didn’t Lydia turn?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the Kudos, reads, and comments. I really appreciate each one.
> 
> I will be doing the other seasons as well and I'll have the next one out in a couple of weeks. Thank you everyone for the support


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